Chemicals React
by MissAnomaly
Summary: My take on Season 3 if Summerland was continued, had it plotted out since forever but never got a chance to write it.. Read and Review please, just give it a shot! Explanatory in story.. BradinOC
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N So as I've said, this is my take on the story, I'm a little fuzzy on the details from where Summerland picks up from but bear with me k? Can't really recall the finale much.. This is just the prologue so things are supposed to be a little bit confusing but not too much I hope, the next few chapters would be more explanatory.._

_Anyway. Here we go.._

**Chemicals React.**

"Don't touch me!" The girl snapped at the sandy blonde male next to her as his hand brushed hers.

"Why don't YOU stop trying to touch me?" He said haughtily.

"I wouldn't touch you if we were the opposite poles of a magnet!" She huffed back.

The onlookers chuckled slightly and dismissed the travesties as the playful teasing they had gotten so used too over the past few days.

"Stop leaning so close!" She snapped yet again

"Oh, trust me; I have no intention of imposing onto your personal space, ma'am!" He replied with exaggerated courtesy and a hint of sarcasm.

"Then stop leaning so close!"

"I'm not leaning!"

"This IS leaning, stupid!"

"I'm stupid?!"

"That's what I said, shithead!" the female replied before he could further elaborate.

"At least I'm not going to end up marrying an effing book!"

"Oh yeah, cause marrying a pair of boobs like Erika is so much better right? At least I'll have articulate conversations with my book!"

The insults had drastically gotten more intense that the onlookers had realized that it wasn't playful jibes anymore.

As dinner continued so did the battle of the wills.

"Conceited!"

"Snob!"

"Conceited!"

"Snob!"

"Conceited!"

"Snob!"

"Conceited!"

"SNOB!"

The little run of power which started as a low hiss so that only the two of them could hear was getting progressively louder in their quest to overcome each other resulting in the onlookers becoming increasingly aware and uncomfortable of the situation.

Aaliyah and Bradin acted like bickering teens in a game of who can spit the furthest. It seemed that they were entangled in a you-trod-on-my-toe-I-stamp-on-your-feet game, both trying to overcome the other, it was hard to act mature when you are still teens in high school.

They never quite got along from the moment they met, in all likeliness it was because of their strangely contrasting yet similar personality. Both as stubborn as mules and hot-headed; very easily provoked. So when one started a fight, the other fought back.

Their arguments were mostly about well, nothing. It would start from the smallest thing and be blown way out of proportion like a snowball rolling downhill.

Witty and sarcastic by nature added with an ungovernable tongue, Aaliyah would snap at Bradin when provoked and in his rebellious nature, he would fight back, both refusing to back up or give up or let the other win.

They had much in common, their love of surfing, interest in medicine, but they were both opinionated and unrelenting, resulting in many infinite debates. Perhaps it would have been for everyone's best interest if they never had crossed paths, but as Fate would have it, circumstances tossed them into each other's lives.

"So Allie! First day tomorrow, excited much?" Ava said loudly, in attempt to stop them from wringing each other's neck which they would be attempting to any second.

"It's high school, it's the same everywhere right?" she replied, still staring daggers at Bradin who in turn returned the glare whilst stabbing her potatoes which much force.

"But it's a public high school," Nikki added, "It's bound to be different,"

"Its senior year, you beat up freshmen, skip out after lunch-"

"Aaliyah!" Ava exclaimed shell shocked. Nikki and Derrick were not however, they were grinning and giggling. Bradin, Susannah and Johnny were biting back smiles as well.

"Joke. You know, those things people do sometimes and then other people laugh. God, you need to relax Ava,"

"I have a houseful kids that I have to raise not to do those things you've just mentioned, and you want me to relax?" Ava said with one of her trademark frowns.

Aaliyah had half a mind to say she needed to get laid more often but held her tongue.

Ava and Johnny, where to start? Things were well, for a while, but now, they were.. 'taking things slow' were Ava's exact words. What they were really doing was dancing around each other. Again!

Who knows exactly what happened, one day things were fine, and then the next day they take a step back and were just friends. Ava sure as hell wasn't talking and Johnny was always the strong and silent type. So they were.. Friends. Who lived together. And shared the responsibilities of raising and caring for 4 kids.

It was nauseating the way they Always end up in situations like that and they desperately needed to be given a wake up call but it was not one of those things you said over dinner, especially when it concerned Johnny and with almost a but load of kids around the table so instead,

"Oh, come on. They know to beat other kids, skip out on school and.. stuff.."

Before Ava could say anything though, Susannah quipped "Either that or you've been doing a really lousy job,"

And everyone laughed at that.

Things were definitely gonna be different with this new addition to their lives.


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N This one's a little dull.. Just a warning, and maybe a tad confusig too, but it'll clear up.. Promise!! winks!_

**Chemicals React.**

After dinner that night Johnny sat on the porch overlooking the sea and with a bottle of cold beer in his hands

After dinner that night Johnny sat on the porch overlooking the sea and with a bottle of cold beer in his hands. The rest of the family was inside downing dinner with a batch of brownies and settling down nicely for the night.

The door opened behind him and without even bothering to turning around.

"Okay, what d'you want?"

"I don't want anything," came to an innocent reply by Allie who'd come out for air and maybe something else in mind.

"You Always want something," he said while she settled next to him cross legged on the recliner wrapping a blanket around herself to keep warm cold breeze.

She sat there for a moment, joining Johnny, staring out at the sea, listening to the waves crashing in, enjoying the cool night breeze.

"What happened?" she asked suddenly and dryly, almost without expression,

Johnny took a swig of his beer, he knew this was gonna come by and bite him in the ass in the form of this 17 year old teenage niece of his.

"Between you and Ava?" she probed deeper.

Silence.

Aaliyah just wrapped the blanket around herself harder and patiently waited. Johnny would crack, he always does.

The silence was long but at last, as she predicted,

"I don't know, Allie, things,"

_Bingo!_

"Funny how 'things' always get in the way between you two,"

"I don't know, some people call it Fate,"

"No fate but what you make," she replied smugly quoting one of her facourite movies. Johnny gave her a look.

"You can call it fate, destiny, chance, luck, whatever, but-" she started but Johnny cut her off.

"Come on Al, give it up already,"

"The 2 of you have been dancing around each other since forever, exactly Forever. You know, the only 2 people who can't see that Johnny and Ava are meant to be together is Johnny and Ava,"

Johnny scoffed. "Right,"

"You know what? I think you're afraid, and I think because you're afraid, you won't even give it a shot. You just won't dive in cause you're terrified,"

"Look, kiddo, you don't know a thing bout me or our relationship," Johnny said and took a swig of his now warm in his hand beer.

"I know you love her, I know she loves you too, what else is there to know?"

Johnny sighed, "Sometimes, just loving someone is not good enough, you can't just love someone and hope everything's just gonna work out and everything's gonna be okay, there are things to consider,"

"You don't know that it won't work, not when you don't even try,"

"We Have tried, Many Times I might add, if we can't work it out through those many times what makes you think we can now?"

It was frustrating trying to get through to Johnny, he was as stubborn as a mule. She couldn't get why he refused to listen.

"I don't know; be a man for once? Dive in and swim? Let the chips fall where they may? You've tried, but obviously not hard eno-" she intended on going on but got cut off.

"Look, I don't need relationship advice, least of all from 17 year old who's never been in or Seen a functional relationship," Johnny snapped back putting extra emphasis on the word 'seen'. His intention was clear: Hit below the belt where it hurt and get her to back off. And it worked, a little too effectively.

Aaliyah scoffs, shaking her head and gets up. It was clear that he went to far the moment the words were out of his mouth but there was no way to repair the damage.

"Allie wait, I didn't-" before he could finish his sentence, the door slammed behind her as she marched into the house.

"Damn it!" he uttered under his breath as he ran after her to repair the damage.

Aaliyah took large strides and entered her room, or rather the room she shared with Bradin before slamming that shut too. Her sophisticated sound system blared out of the stereos in an instant and she ignored Johnny banging on the door.

"Johnny, what d'you do?" Ava asked, concerned. She had just sent Nikki ad Derrick to bed as they had the first day back in school the next day and saw Allie marching in.

"Nothing! I.. I said some things a little too intense bout.. You know,"

"You didn't- Johnny!" Ava replied, horrorstruck.

"Yeah I didn't, I didn't mean to! She was being Aaliyah trying to help with the whole you and me thing and the words were just out before I knew it,"

"Whoa, what's going on?" Bradin asked watching Johnny and Ava bicker outside his room where he could hear the baseline of Muse thumping and practically vibrating the walls of his room.

"Nothing, just get in there and keep an eye on Allie, would you?" Ava suggested. It was his room too, Allie really couldn't and wouldn't really stop him from entering, and it would be smart to have someone keep an eye on her, especially after what Johnny had said to her she figured.

"I don't want to," Bradin said reluctantly, sensing something went seriously wrong there and frankly, he didn't want to get caught in the middle especially when Allison was involved. It was enough that they rubbed each other the wrong way, he wasn't gonna stick his head into something potentially explosive.

"I said somethings, things a little too intense and insensitive, just go in and keep an eye on her," Johnny explained.

"That would require my presence in the room, I'm assuming it's locked, and frankly speaking I wouldn't want to be in the room with… that right now,"

"Bradin, she can't keep you out, it's your room too,"

"Honestly, I want to be kept out, I really really do,"

"Bradin," Ava said sternly.

He exhaled and caved, "Fine."


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N This too is a little dull, but I wouldn't skip it, it's sort of explanatory so I'd read it if you don't want the confusion._

**Chemicals React.**

Bradin sat on his chair behind the study tossing one of those squishy balls meant for stress relievers up and down up and down, watching Aaliyah who was on her bed against the other wall of the room reading her copy of 'The Grapes of Wrath', it looked well kept like the massive mountain of her books, well read, slightly battered, but well cared for, neat and clean, no creases on the spine or the pages but slightly faded.

Aaliyah stared at the same page for an hour.

_Look, I don't need relationship advice, least of all from 17 year old who's never been in or Seen a functional relationship_

Never seen a functional relationship. That had hit a nerve. He was right of course; Aaliyah was as screwed up as 17 year old could be in that sense.

Her parent's relationship was nothing short of dysfunctional; her mother left when she was young, she left because she wanted her cushy life in New York back, the slow standard life of a non-well off Californian was too much for her to handle. She just packed and left. It wasn't an impulsive move no one saw coming, they were always arguing, and James had loved Aaliyah's mother more than she ever loved him.

Aaliyah grew up with her father in Playa Linda, who never really got over Aaliyah's mother leaving, but growing up with one parent, she never felt like she was left out on anything; her dad had been great, though they'd gotten into some tough spots. But when he died, Aaliyah was 13 and she had to leave Playa Linda to live with her mother but most of her time was spent with her grandmother as Eleanor was never home in New York.

In New York, her mother was remarried, and even that relationship she couldn't make work, and that was to Jace, the most caring, most patient person ever and Eleanor couldn't even make it work. He was a doctor, a busy well off 6 figure paycheck per year surgeon, and Aaliyah would have bonded with him a lot better if he was home more often.

Eleanor had 2 other marriages after Aaliyah's father, those didn't work too well either but she did land a hefty settlement from both the divorce.

It was safe to say that Aaliyah had never seen a functional relationship where her parents were concerned. Her own personal life had been no better either. But that was another story entirely.

Her parent's dysfunctional relationship had had an effect on her, especially when James love for her mother had actually successfully gotten him killed and Johnny, of all people knew that it was a susceptible subject.

Aaliyah had spent the hour staring at a page of the first book she grabbed of the stack of her many books before curling up in bed without reading it, getting up only to unlock the door but flumping back onto bed again after.

For that hour, Bradin who had managed to insinuate himself into the room, sat on his study desk in the room, and thought on how things had changed over the summer while wondering how he was supposed to handle the awkward silence.

He and Aaliyah had not spent a lot of time together, but those few times, it had always been filled with noise, bickering about some things or another, many of which he had a hand in making it happen, but nonetheless, there had never been silence between them.

He thought of Johnny and Ava, how they were all tied up in knots again, and how uncomfortable things were between the two and how it was strange because they were Johnny and Ava.

Apart from that however, nothing much had changed, Susannah was still with Matt, Nikki was still with Cameron, Jay was with Isabelle and baby Lilly, he was with Erika, well more or less, life was good, more or less.

The whole Wave Crashers deal had blown over for which he was thankful for. And he could almost start afresh as a senior in Playa Linda High starting the next day. Almost. Because he'd be doing that with an addition to his life, Aaliyah-Jayne Aurora Lennox-Montgomery. And she was all of the double hyphened expensively long name. She came from money from what he knew, her mother's side, and she lived on the Upper East Side for the whole few years she spent in New York after her father's demise.

For some reason however, Aaliyah was back at Playa Linda now, and Ava who had been close to James before his demise felt personally responsible for her well being and Johnny being her uncle and all, had also insisted that she stayed with them much to Bradin's disdain.

Aaliyah or Allie or more intimately known as Rory to those who knew her better was a 5'6'' with amber brown hair which had now had a lighter honey hued, sun-kissed highlights of blondish-ness since she was back in the sun so much in California, and an ashen, porcelain pallid complexion which had proved to not be able to tan however much time she spent under the sun.

Her piercing ocean blue eyes and modest curves completed the doe eyed Malibu Barbie look.

Because she was too tall to share the attic with Nikki and because Ava and Johnny were not together hence stayed in separate rooms and because Bradin and Derrick did not go well sharing a room, Aaliyah shared the room with Bradin, which was sardonic as the two of them were somewhat volatile when put together.

Aaliyah was witty and smart and seemed to have a wide scope of hobbies from computers to music to movies to sports and reading, they both had a passion for surfing and medicine though they had different styles and contrasting opinions, she was not the kind of wide eyed bambi, label whoring girls compressed into a package of girlish evil as the most of the other girls halfway as pretty as her in school.

Bradin didn't seem to get why they couldn't get along better.

They stayed like that for a while, Bradin by the desk, Aaliyah on her bed, both reflecting two very different subjects.

Silence sitting between them.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Hmm.. The story's still at the explanatory stage, this flits back and forth with past and the present with the oh so familiar flashbacks. Don't worry, the drama'll start soon. Pwomise! _

_P/s Thanks for the review btw JustTheGirl07, hope you'll hang around, this is gonna be one long run, it's been festering in my head since forever and had begun to breed frenziedly. And if the reception's good, I may write a prequel and sequel, though the prequel's not gonna have anything to do with Playa Linda, but anyway, enjoy.._

_P/p/s Haha.. Please Review, don't read and do nothing. Reviews tell me there are people reading, and may motivate me to get off my fat arse and keep posting, thanks! )_

**Chemicals React.**

_The woman with wispy grey hair and worldly lines on her face stood with a half amused smile on her face leaning on the dresser as the girl with ashen complexion rushed around the room with one side of her shoes on picked up a rubber band and tried to fasten her almost entirely auburn hair into a ponytail while looking for the other side of her converse._

_"Gramma!" the girl with the light shade of auburn hair whined at her grandmother's disapproving half amused smile._

_The lady was dressed in a blue dress suit and a cream silk scarf around her neck, tastefully put together, like all her other outfits she's seen her grandmother wear. The girl with the ocean blue eyes was not exactly a pixie, but she was no giant either for a 13 year old, her hair tied into a messy ponytail and she adorned the classic prep school uniform but with anklet socks instead of knee highs._

_"Do you want to be late for your first day of school, dare I ask?" voiced the lady with the grey wispy hair in a surprisingly strong voice._

_"Oh, so you're telling me if I keep this up, I won't have to go?" she replied dryly while still scrambling to find the other side of her shoe._

_It was no secret that she did Not want to be attending this private high school in New York, she'd just been uprooted from where she grew up and the people she knew and loved, and thrown into a world where she didn't know anything or anyone in this upper crusty and privileged world._

_Her grandmother picked up other side of the purple converses from under her pile of pajamas sitting on the floor and held it out for her as she spun on the spot trying to spot the shoe before realizing her grandmother was holding it out for her._

_She grabbed the shoe her grandmother held dangling in front of her and shoved it on as she grabbed her messenger bag and made a dash out the door while pulling the tie from the dresser over her head._

_The girl's grandmother held out another bag, a newer more luxurious looking bag which it seemed had all her things in instead of the bag she seized out of habit._

_The auburn haired girl spun around and grabbed the less worn but more expensive looking bag dropping the one in her hands before dashing out the door again._

_"The limo's out, Allie, take the cab, Don't walk!" the lady shouted out after her before she sighed to herself and shook her head chuckling slightly before leaving the room herself but not before casting a disapproving look around the room complete with it's jumbled up fluffy comforter on the king sized bed and pajamas strewn on the floor making a note for Simmonette to clean it up._

The same girl with the same pallid complexion and piercing blue eyes awoke with a start as she fell in a heap onto the floor with a thud tangled up in her comforter. She groaned before noticing the other bed was empty and she grabbed the clock above her head on the side table glancing at it before giving out another groan.

Unraveling herself from the blanket, she hopped into the bathroom for a quick shower and changed into a brown hoodie and white shorts, with the straps of her brown two piece just slightly peeking out from beneath the hoodie, an outfit worthy of a true born and bred Californian.

At the breakfast table, Aaliyah sat with her omelet and orange juice in front of her. She wasn't paying much attention to it, absent mindedly scooping it into her mouth. If you were to ask her what she had for breakfast in five minutes, she wouldn't be able to answer you.

Aaliyah sat at the table with her fork in hand and a bustle of activity around her, Johnny preparing some more breakfast for some reason, Ava packing lunch, Susannah juggling the newspaper, an add prototype, her coffee and talking to Ava bout something at the same time, Bradin was already done and washing his plate at the sink, Nikki talking animatedly on the cordless with Amber it seemed and Derrick wolfing down his eggs and bacon.

_The girl scurries down the spiral stairs and grabs a muffin from the tray laden with breakfast confectionaries held out in front of her and took a gulp of the orange juice that she was so sure her grandmother had someone to have freshly squeezed for her before dashing out the heavy set front doors._

_She pinches off a little from the top and pops it into her mouth hails down a cab at when she reaches the corner, juggling her muffin, her bag and the door handle, she looks at the sun shining feebly in the clouds and jumps into the cab, giving the instructions to the cabbie she shuts the door with a thud._

Ava sets down a lunch package in front of Allie with a thump.

"I'm a little too old to have my lunch packed don'cha think?" Aaliyah said cocking an eye brow at the package set in front of her.

"It's for Derrick, you know, the boy sitting next to you? 13 year old, brown hair? Derrick?"

"Right," Allie replied shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts. The whole 7 people under one roof still needed some getting used to. She didn't get why Johnny didn't let her just stay at a hotel, she could charge it to her grandmother Lillian's card, or Eleanor's, not like it mattered, she never checked her bills, and she was probably at a shopping spree somewhere in Paris or Milan or.. something.

And her anger with Johnny still hadn't subsided, it did not take an adult to be an expert at the art of holding long grudges, and cold shoulders were one of her many strong traits.

"You'll need to meet Principal Morris by the way, before your first class, so you might not want to sit there and stare at your empty plate all day," Ava said and, automatically, Allie looked down and true enough, her plate was empty she looked up and saw Bradin by the sink, wiping his hand on the towel. She picked up her plate and walked over.

_The old stone walled building stood before her. Towering over her comparatively small frame._

_She didn't need a shiny gold plate to tell her she was at the right place. Nor the obviously expensive architecture or the ivy clad walls. The massive amounts of students slowly making their way into the compounds of with matching uniforms would have been a large tip off for any outsider. _

_Expensive cars continued to roll in behind her, people with the same uniforms she had on got off with an air of boldness and defiance. Designer shoes and bags lost amidst the crowd, though there were clearly many. _

_The bell rang and Allie took a deep breath before joining the throng of people entering the school compounds. Though the bell rang, the exodus of students moving into school did not seem hassled, they did not scurry for fear of being late but continued walking in their steady pace, the ones loitering around with their breakfast did not hurry to finish their coffees or yogurts or cartons of milk. _

_They were at ease with the whole routine. Relaxed._

Allie stood outside the building of Playa Linda High. Students dressed in whatever the hell they pleased rolling in from different directions, on bike, on foot, on skateboard, and a whole horde descending a bus. The sun shone bright over head and the wind came in with a hint of salt in the air.

Aaliyah smiled at the familiarity and if it was not an unnatural thing for Any teenager to do, she would have ran into school.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N I know the whole flashbacks don't really have anything to do with the narrative right now, but it'll be part of the story, don't like those kind of plot-less stories, I have everything plotted out before I start. So just bear with me.. _

**Chemicals React.**

"Allie!" screeched one of the female seniors Playa Linda High. The four girls sat at one table, and she'd unofficially named them the Barbie Brigade, all four of them wore the almost exact same shade of blinding pink gloss, a mountain pile of eye liner and the same counterfeit smile. They were all also wearing skirts and shorts so short that left little to the imagination matched with baby tees.

It was lunch time and minutes before, the Barbie Brigade had obviously seen her chatting with Seth, her best friend from Playa Linda before she left, one of the Only people she'd kept in touch with. He was now Zac the Jock. He had grown about ten foot taller and was the star player in the basketball team with his gorgeous blonde hair and ten gunny sacs worth of muscle.

"Come, come, come sit with us," squealed the seemingly obvious Queen Bee, or rather, Queen Barbie as Allie had taken to calling her, Vanessa Marie. She was clearly a bottle blonde who was skinny as a stick and wore an inch thick make up. Her wannabe's include the 3 other girls who's name she's yet to register, 2 brunette's and a willowy blonde, all obviously bulimic or anorexic to some extent. And Allie thought these girls only existed in one world. Apparently not.

"Actually I don't think so," and she settled to sit alone on the boardwalk facing the waves not so far off the school ignoring the blatantly appalled Barbie Brigade and some other shocked wanabees loitering around. She figured they'd just wanted gossip so she walked off to enjoy her own company instead.

The first half of the day made her feel completely wasted and ridiculously wrung out, there were people who had gazed unabashedly at the unfamiliar face but things got better, the few people she had managed to hold conversations with were either at a different wavelength as she had making it seem like they were tuned in to the am while she was on the fm or well, a little to intense academically as she was in AP classes

Either she was out of touch with the Californian girl within her or Playa Linda had really actually changed that much since she left. Somehow, she remembered being understood when she spoke and being tuned in to the same radio frequency as others.

So by the time lunch arrived, there was no bucket loads of friends she particularly wanted to lunch with and she sat by herself, enjoying her own company. She wasn't a loner by any means, but she'd rather eat alone than with company of which she didn't enjoy.

"Hey!" Zac greeted her as he stole some fries off her tray.

"Hey!" she exclaimed "Get your own fries,"

"Nah, yours taste so much better," he quipped back and she gave an exasperated and overly dramatic look.

"Shouldn't you be sitting with your toadies plotting to torch the rival schools field or something?"

"First of all, I play Bas-Ket-Ball, we have courts, not fields. Second of all, I am gracing you with the presence of Zac Micheals, be grateful, be very grateful," and Allie scoffed at him.

"Well, okay, Zac Micheals, tell me, why aren't you in any AP classes? You should grace me with your presence All the time,"

"Hey, we ballers are here to be looked at, we leave the heavy thinking to the geeks in the world!"

"Hey!" she said hitting him in the arm.

"Careful now, I could sue you,"

"Funny, real funny Micheals,"

"Anyway, been meaning to give you this," Zac handed her a flier of the surf team, it seems they have some spots open and were recruiting, "You should give it a shot, you're way better than some of the guys we have on team,"

"Better than Bradin Westerley, would you say?"

"Well you Have been in New York a long time, haven't seen you do your thing in a while, I wouldn't say, and he Is-" he stopped mid sentence as Allie shot him a look which was basically a well-it's-my-goddamn-thing-ofcourse-I-still-mother-effing-rock-at-it-look, so he clamped his mouth shut after.

Born and bred in Playa Linda, Zac had never liked surfing, it wasn't his thing he said, which was funny because they basically grew up together and Allie never really saw him try, but it was an excuse that held up for 17 years.

Allie however was a true surfer by blood, having grown up with her dad as company, she'd hit the waves from an early age, and she loved every bit of it, the cool wind that stung the skin when you were wet, the almost warm at times salt water, the merciless sun, the adrenaline of popping up on the board, everything.! And once she got the hang of it, it wasn't long till she mastered even the most difficult moves.

After lunch, the day didn't go half bad really; Aaliyah had managed to find a few people she could get along with, Connor, her biology partner who was also in her English lit class and some girls who were nothing like the Barbie Brigade. Allie had also signed up for journalism and photography as well as put her name down for the surf try outs.

There were cliques, obviously, she had observed, but Allie was glad that cliques were not something you lived and died by as they were in the posh ivy preparatory school she'd attended back in New York. _That_ was one of the many things that had not gone too well for her.

_Allie sat alone at the steps. She had not been very socially active in classes so far, the people that went to her school seemed a bit too much of a tight-knitted group. She sat alone on the steps with her lunch with one particular herd of them tight knitted freshmen sat several steps above her. _

_They were obviously one of the 'in' crowds. The slightly different uniforms carried with style and poise, polished and elegant looking, the obvious luxuries they were accustomed to, the walking around with no one getting in their way, the chatting animatedly amongst each other and knowing most of the other students, even seniors._

_The gang of 4 were clearly not the ordinary group of freshmen._

_The 2 males, both tall and lean for their age, one with honey blonde hair the other had pallid ashen skin with brown hair that almost seemed black. The girls, one of the girls had golden hair that flowed down her back in a wavy line and the other had short brown hair that was cropped short and sticking in every direction complete with highlights and lowlights of sandy blonde, not an economical hair cut or easily maintained Allie was sure._

_Aaliyah had not befriended anyone, and the few people she recognized to have similar classes with her had not cast her a second glance, casting her as another one of them newbie's who would never really blend in well, her cluttered appearance had seen to that. _

_Taking a bite out of her cheese sandwich before deciding the food in school was definitely edible; Allie sat alone in her own company._

_But then, "You're new?" a voice crept in from behind her. One of the boys from the in crowd seemed to have wandered off without his herd._

_"Wow, what tipped you off?" she joked lightly before turning around, he chuckled, flashing her his thousand watt smile._

_Everyone here obviously had been in the same schools or if not same company since pre-school. It was no wonder that they could spot a newcomer from a mile away. _

_"The whole not-a-face-we've-seen-since-pre-school kinda screams it,"_

_Allie allowed herself a nervous laugh._

_"Christian," offered the charismatic honey blonde, he seemed nice, with a hint of honesty, approachable even, whereas the other male however had an air of cockiness to him, an air of arrogance. And he looked over to them, tearing himself away from the conversation and observing the newcomer that had obviously caught his friend's attention._

_"Aaliyah," she replied taking his hand, "Lennox-Montgomery," she said offering her last name for some reason, and that was all that was needed for her all access into the 'in' crowd._

_Christian got up and cocked his head toward the gang of 4._

"You coming?"

Allie was leaning on her locker watching the scurry of movement as people hurried home after the last bell.

"Oh, hey, yeah, what?" she replied.

"Uh.. Home?" responded the sandy blonde male as though it was the most obvious thing.

"Actually, I was thinking of walking, you know not, take the bus," Allie answered while opening her locker to take out some books wondering what was with her and her luck with blonde good looking guys, infuriating or otherwise thinking of Christian, and then Bradin and Chase who she'd met from her gym class, which was her last period before the bell.

"Great, so was I," Bradin replied rather awkwardly looking away from her.

"Ava sent you to watch me she?" Allie questioned him, turning around to squint at him.

"Johnny actually, but yeah,"

"Per-Fect, remind me never to send you to spy for me, like Ever," Alle said, slamming the locker shut, her anger towards Johnny evaporating a slight bit, a very slight bit, but still.

"Oh I will," Bradin retorted with all seriousness.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Not one of my best work, its kind off messy and incoherent and sort of a filler in a way, catfight in the middle, a little bit of a cliffie here, a bit of of a DM there Deep&Meaningful but anyway, Review please, don't be a freak, only freaks read and not let people know they're reading, constructive criticism always welcomed, like it, don't like it, tell me anyway.. So please Review.. Thank you.. _

_P/S Oh and.. As promised, drama begins.. ngeee… xD Enjoy.._

**Chemicals React.**

Life in Playa Linda fell easily into a routine when there were no distractions and the first few weeks had gone by undisturbed, well, more or less. Aaliyah's anger at Johnny had slightly abated and was brought down to a simmer, though not completely gone, she was known to hold unbelievably long grudges, anybody who knew her half well knew that.

Things between Ava and Johnny had been less awkward as well as Ava directed her energy to disapproving of Bradin's relationship with Erica and Johnny distracted himself with trying to make amends with Allie though attempts have been rather futile.

Aaliyah and Bradin got along, or rather, not got along as they usually did, by arguing. Whether it was each morning over who would use the shower first, over dinner over who was childish, or over practice over who was the better surfer Allie had made the surf team. She thought her life had almost seemed normal for once, friends, without the drama, without the trouble in school, or so she thought.

After the slight incident at lunch time on her first day back, the Queen Barbie seemed to have taken to plotting revenge. No one gave Vanessa Marie a royal brush off to sit with them for lunch like she did and the fact that Allie had achieved to be friends with the school's hotties and what not's within one day in school had not pleased her.

Aaliyah had managed to befriend the richest and one of the hottest guys in school, Chase Adams in gym on her first day, proved to know Zac Micheals, the star shooter of the basketball team, and lived with Bradin Westerly star surfer on the surf team. And Vanessa did Not like that.

And as luck would have it, Vanessa and Allie happened to have gym together.

No one knew exactly what happened but tension had built for weeks and it just exploded during that one gym period. The girls had been grouped to two groups for a game of basketball and intentionally or not, Allie had thrown the basketball a little to hard to her team mate Vanessa which hit her square on the face.

No harm was done, but next thing happened to quickly no one saw coming, Vanessa hurled her manicured palm at Allie - while screaming profanities - and it had connected.

Allie in response shoved Vanessa backwards and being the stronger one albeit the tinier one Vanessa was at least 5'8'' and she landed on the floor. The coach tried to smooth over the situation which had gotten things worse. The group of students had huddled around and Allie could almost hear them chant 'Cat fight! Cat fight!'

The highly pissed of Vanessa had managed to push the female coach away and proceeded to extract her brand of revenge.

"What's your problem, bitch!?" Allie yelled as she caught Vanessa's hands with her own. She could hear the Coach Johnson blowing her whistle and ordering the girls to back off each other.

Through all the pushing involved in the fight, they'd managed to push themselves out of the gym door and out to the hallway.

"You are, Bitch!" she spat back yanking her hands free and pushing Allie with such force that landed them both on the floor, in the fight, Allie though being the smaller one was wining the fight and as she sat on top of Vanessa's kicking and screaming skinny frame a pair of strong arms pulled her up and backwards as Coach Johnson restrained Vanessa.

"Detention! Both of you!" she screamed.

Vanessa seemed shocked for a moment and it seemed to have ended the temporary insanity.

Aaliyah struggled against the restraining arms against hers.

"Whoa, down Rover," the owner of the rather strong hands voiced.

"Chase, let go!" she demanded rather than asked. She recognized that signature scent or rather cologne he wore long before he even spoke for her to be sure it was him. And he did let go. She turned around to see his signature smirk.

The moment Coach let go of Vanessa on her feet though, she charged at Allie again and again Allie caught her arms and in the struggle, Vanessa had hit Allie near the temple and the blow knocked her backwards.

Bradin and Connor sat in class when a commotion stirred their Chemistry teacher out of class. Like the rest of their classmates, they rush out of class to see what had cause the commotion and Bradin stuck his head out just in time to watch it in slow motion as Aaliyah's feet twisted and tripped at the same time the blow struck her face and her body went limp.

Aaliyah tried her hardest to stop but she'd already lost her footing and tripped over the edge. The air was now swarming past her ears as she felt her consciousness slipping away. Somewhere, far away she could almost here JJ and Kirsten, her new friends from Trig class nothing like the Barbie Brigade who also were in the same gym class scream.

She almost anticipated the fall but it never came, instead she seemed to hit something that wasn't the ground and it closed in on her, and everything just went black as she felt another pair of arms close in on her, brushing against her hair off her forehead.

"Ow, that stings,"

"Yea, it should," Johnny said lividly as he held a towel to Aaliyah's tender left cheek.

"Are you disappointed in me?" she asked timidly, all anger at Johnny's previous comment wiped from her mind at the moment.

"No, why should I be? It only took you bout 3weeks to get yourself into a fight, heck I'm proud," Johnny said as he washed his hands aggressively over the sink. Aaliyah watched, sitting on the toilet with the seat covered doh! holding a hot towel to her cheek. She had to admit, she looked heck of a lot better than Vanessa, she had successfully given her a black eye, a swollen cheek and a bruised lip.

"For what it's worth, I didn't start it,"

"Oh, I feel so much better, Aaliyah," she noted that he called her Aaliyah, not Allie or Rory or Rore, which more or less meant she was screwed. There was a moments silence before Johnny snapped again.

"You're not in New York anymore Allie, you need to own up to things you do and take responsibility for it, I don't have the money to donate a new wing to the library each time you get into trouble, you have to-"

"If I run out for a cup of coffee, would I be back before you got to your point?"

"I want you to apologize. Cause that's what people do when they're in the wrong; you know what wrong is isn't it? You should, cause that's what you are now,"

"I'm not gonna apologize for something I didn't do,"

"Damn it, Aaliyah, you are not impressing anyone!" he exploded, "You may call yourself principled but what you really are is a stubborn adolescent idiot,"

"_Not her first time indulging in such behavior_," Johnny said quoting Principal Morris while turning his back on her. "Is that why you're back? You got expelled for doing something and refused to apologize?" he asked staring at her through the mirror.

"No," she responded quickly at his words and recoiled from the stinging sensation.

"Hold it tighter," Johnny whipped around, adjusting the towel pressing it firmly on her face. He was concerned, he cared and she knew that, and she also knew that chances are, if she worked fast, she'd get out scat-free without being probed about New York. So she changed the subject fast, knowing that it was hard for him to be mad at her when she played the fragile little injured niece card. While Johnny pressed the towel firmly on her face, Aaliyah wondered if he was going to push the whole why are you back subject. There was silence in the small room as Johnny tried to see whether the swelling had gone down.

"So what happened between you and Ava?" she probed on instead.

"So not the time, Rore," he said with a chuckle while he put back the towel against her face.

"I know," she said with a laugh as well, hoping she had just slammed the door shut on the whole what happened-in-New-York-that-brings-you-back-here subject.

But after a moments silence however, unexpectedly, with a defeated sigh,

"Honestly, Rore, I don't know, I just.. don't."

_A/N I actually wanted to leave in a more dramatic cliffhanger when she falls but I decided to be nice, Review please, thank you.. XoXo m.Anomaly_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Basically just a filler, but still read it yea? Oh, the humor and drama are about to be injected more from here onward, just so you know._

_Let it Begin…. cackles evilly… Mwuahahhahaha… Enjoy.. )_

_XoXo m.Anomaly_

**Chemicals React.**

"Rise and Shine!" was her wake up call.

After her long D&M Deep&Meaningful with Johnny bout the whole Johnny and Ava thing in the bathroom the night before Yes, the bathroom! Aaliyah had crawled into bed and slept the moment her head hit the pillow, and was thankful it was a Saturday which meant she'd get to sleep till later, something she'd been properly deprived off with all her AP classes and extra curricular activities.

Allie pulled her pillow over her head and managed a muffled 'Go away!' through it.

She heard the other voice snicker before the first voice says, "What? No thank you for saving my life?"

And with that Allie shot up on her bed to see Bradin and Connor hovering over her bed and nearly bumping her head into theirs.

"What are you-? How did you-? What?" was all she managed to say, shaking her head and bronzy brown locks, confused.

It took her a while to process that Connor and Bradin were in her room.

Over the past few weeks she'd learned that Connor and Bradin were pretty close friends, both being in the surf team though Bradin was a far better surfer. And she often enjoyed their company outside surf practices, occasionally lunching together and hanging out, though not without the usual taunting and teasing as well as arguments and bickering Bradin and Aaliyah had become accustomed to, less heated now as they grew on each other.

"I think she's still a little shocked from yesterday,"

"I'm fine!" she insisted "And I have thanked you! Both of you," she added

"Hey it was all Connor, I would have let your ass fall down those stairs," Bradin said deviously ignoring the fact that he had rushed forward when he saw her fall just not merely in time.

"Hey, it's just a habit of being in the right place at the right time," Connor said with the occasional smirk.

"Oh, don't get a big head," Allie said and threw her pillow at him before pushing the covers over herself and sitting up, rubbing sleep from her eyes, mentally giving them credit for not actually mentioning the fight she had with Vanessa the previous day.

"Whoa, didn't know you were this much of a geek when I met you first day back," Connor commented as his eyes swept over her mountain piles of books and picking one up. Aaliyah hastily snatched it back and put it down.

"Coming from a guy who's read Hemmingway since he was 10?" she stated while pulling her hair into a high ponytail. Connor opened is mouth like he was about to say something before closing it and opening it once again to change the subject.

"Oh, just hurry up would you? We've got practice with Coach in half an hour,"

"Half an hour, just about enough time to-" Allie didn't give a chance for Bradin to finish the statement however, and didn't need to to realize what he was about to say. Flinging her other pillow at him, she took away his attempt to push her buttons by reminding she was in the presence of two guys, half naked, she had fallen asleep in one of her overly large flannel pajama top and no pants.

"You keep your mind off the gutter, Westerly," Allie said and his eyes swept downwards at her uncovered legs all too visibly with a raised eyebrow to, she was so sure of this, annoy her.

"Nothing like a catfight to whet the appetite," Bradin chuckled referring to the incidents of the day before, "I mean, with those shorts and sweat drenched tee's I hope someone managed to take a video,"

"Hey, but hats off to you, you kicked the ass out of Vanessa, Rawr," Connor chipped in referring to the fact that she Had held her ground against Vanessa and managed to hit the mickey out of her instead, nobody would be envying Vanessa anytime soon.

"I take that back," Allie thought to herself, knowing that giving them credit for something like that was premature.

"You're disgusting," she spat at Bradin instead.

"But you like it," Bradin smirked.

"Yeah, in your dreams, Westerly,"

"Oh, trust me, I do dream," he replied with another smirk.

_Bradin stared out into the sea as he continued to observe how she rode the waves seamlessly, almost without effort even. JJ had been good enough to make the cut but Aaliyah wasn't lying when she scoffed at how she thought His skills were hardly polished enough to compare with hers. She did several pumps and carves generating speed and velocity before flawlessly executing some ground-breaking maneuvers._

_There had been very few girls who'd ever tried out for the school's surf team, and the number that qualified dwindled even further south as the years went by however not only was there a girl who had bothered to try-out, that particular girl had been a really good surfer. So far, there had only been one other girl in the surf team who had managed to make the cut last year, and JJ sat with the rest of the team._

_When she was done and jogged toward Coach Jeffrey, surf board in hand, her modest curves and flat stomach in clear view as she didn't adorn a wetsuit but only her bikini and shorts over the bottoms, Coach Jeffrey wrote something on the his clip board before looking up._

_"So you're one of them goofy foot surfers, huh?" he asked when he looked up from his clip board._

_"Actually I'm a switch-foot," she replied as she dug her board into the sand next to them before carrying on to explain "I'm just more comfortable with my left," she replied, pulling her rubber band out of her wet hair draining it at the same time before pilling them on top of her head again before putting her hands on her hips, expectant of his reply, looking eagerly at her - hopefully - soon to be coach._

_Bradin's eyes searched her face, feeling her anticipation, noticing her soft lips and unwillingly scanned her wet figure and allowed himself a look, first her feet and from there, her lean legs, up to her taut stomach then - Then he'd mentally hit himself and ordered himself, for the first time to not fantasize about his 'room mate'. She did not wear a wet suit when she surfed, and this wasn't the first time he'd seen he half unclad, though this was the first time he realized how hot she actually was, well, he obviously noticed that she was, but to actually know, and realize it for the first time._

_"Lennox-Montgomery was it?" the coach asked, looking at his flip chart again._

_"Yea, Aaliyah, Aaliyah-Jayne," she offered_

_"Well, Aaliyah-Jayne," he began, weighing down on her name for emphasis, "It may be a little early, but I don't think it's the least premature to say this, welcome to the team," he said smiling at her. Allie allowed him to walk away to call for the next try-outer before allowing herself a triumphant smile._

_"So.." a voice came up from behind her and in hovered the too-familiar scent of Chase Adams, "We've got ourselves a new little grommet in the team._

_"Little?" she questioned as she turned around raising an eyebrow, "Grommet?"_

_"Adams, I assure you, there's nothing little about me-" and before she could continue her sentence however he cut her off, "I can see that," his eyes swept over her partially uncovered wet body "or my surfing, and I'm 17, not 7," she continued, determined not to let his piercing eyes phase her as she walked away._

_Witnessing this all from not that far a distance, he'd noticed that as good an actor she was, she every bit as uncomfortable and perhaps a little annoyed too, like someone had ruffled her feathers whenever anyone had anything border lining from sexual comments to antics to hurl at her._

_"A flaw in her seemingly watertight character, finally," he thought to himself._

"Seriously, is it all you guys ever think about?" she asked as Connor merely chuckled as he'd gotten used to the never ending travesty between the two.

"Well, Westerly here is obsessed with his surfing and I have my almost crude fascination with English," Connor replied while holding a straight face in mock seriousness.

"Mmm hmm, yea, I'm sure, that's why Bradin stashes his Playboys under his pillow right?" she threw.

"I do not have Pla-" he started but got cut off.

"Sport Illustrated, G.Q., Forbes, Playboy, Po-Tae-To, Po-Tah-To, same thing," Allie took her turn at taunting Bradin this time, turning the tables on him and the look on his face had been priceless as he pondered for a moment what she said before opening his mouth to object that he'd ever read any of the magazines she named.

Catching herself smile, she wondered if she'd actually grown to like Bradin. But as soon as the thought entered her mind however, she pushed it out. No, she detested him, she hated that boy with a passion, and it wasn't difficult, especially when he walked around thinking the world revolved around him in all of him and his 5'9'' self thinking he was god's gift to the humanly world and to women as well, he'd just grown on her, like how you get used to an unpleasant smell when you've been exposed to it for too long.

She really did still dislike him, deep down, very deep down. She was sure she did, no matter what his face looked like, or how lean and built his body was.

"No wait, scratch that," she thought to herself, "You dislike him _**Period**_"


	8. Chapter 8

_

* * *

_

Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

_A/N Whoa, longest chapter so far.. Was on riding on a high when I wrote this.. hehe.. But be not afraid; charge ahead, and Again, Review Please! There's almost 200 hits now and only 1 Review so far.. So please review, Please? Anyway, __Enjoy.. ) _

**Chemicals React.**

The glimmering sun shone unsympathetically from a distance and Aaliyah had the day off from Mona's Sandbar and it was the weekend, so she turned on the air conditioning in the room on high to catch up on some reading, thinking that she'd catch the waves later when the heat maybe downed a little. And just when she was getting comfortable, the door bell rang.

"Can somebody get that?" she yelled to no one in particular.

No answer. And it rang again..

And again…

And Again

"Ugh.. Coming!" she yelled abandoning her book.

When she finally got to the door and stopped the infernal ringing of the doorbell, the face she saw when the door swung open shocked her a little.

"Chase..! You.. What are you doing here?" she stuttered slightly, mentally hitting herself for not puling on shorts, she was dressed in an oversized flannel pajama top due to the heat with her usual two piece bathing suit beneath.

"I'm.." he started with his eyes tracing down to her bare legs, "supposed to pass a message to Bradin,"

"Perv." was all she could think.

"He's not in," she replied as he walked into the house without an invite.

"But yea, sure come right in," she said sarcastically

"You don't expect me to wait out there in the heat for him to come home do you?" he questioned, turning around to look at her.

"No, I expected you to pass the message to me to pass to him," she offered instead, un-phased by his nerve and confidence.

"Well then, consider this a me asking for a thank you cold drink on a hot day,"

"A thank you for what?"

"For saving you the beating at gym the other day,"

"You didn't save me from anything, Adams," she retorted but walking to the kitchen the same, to hide behind the counter, she didn't want him to follow her to her room, knowing full well that he would.

She opened the refrigerator door and threw a bottle of water toward him, which he left on the counter, unopened.

"Then what's the drink for?"

"Well," she started saying, "If you get a heat stroke and die, I'd go to prison, not a chance I'm willing to take. Cause when I kill someone, I'd prefer to make it look like an accident,"

"Ah, gorgeous and smart," he smirked moving closer toward her, not wanting to seem afraid she stood her ground, refused to be backed up in the place she lived. But then, it only gave him the perfect opportunity to bend over her and place his lips over hers. Taken aback by the suddenness, it took her a moment before she responded by pushing him away.

But just the second before she did, the kitchen door swung open and in came Bradin.

"Adams what are you doing here?" he spat venomously, instantaneously.

"Well before we were rudely interrupted-" he started but Bradin cut him off again.

"Yeah I noticed, I meant before this," he snapped.

"Coach wanted to see you, told me to pass the message"

"Yeah I got it, you can go," Chase looked like he'd challenge Bradin to make him before he realized they were in His house, so he just raised his hand in mock defeat and walked away.

"What the hell are you doing?" Bradin all but yelled at Aaliyah who grabbed the unopened bottle of water to regain her footing.

"Well if you can't tell for yourself, I'm drinking water," she quipped

"You were kissing Chase, the guy's a jerk!"

"Oh yea, cause I don't have my Sports Illustrated right?" she snapped back at him. He wasn't the only one who seemed pissed now. Allie was getting a lot more drama then she bargained for when she opted to come back to her home town, and it was exactly that that she didn't want.

"Or G.Q or Forbes," she ploughed on, "so I just make out with any hot guy I come across," she said, throwing her hands in the air for a more vivid effect.

Before he could respond however Allie snapped at him to clear up a fact that she felt was somewhat needed to be cleared up. "I wasn't kissing Chase; he kissed me!"

"Oh, yeah, big difference!" he snapped back.

"Yeah, there is cause it mean I was the kiss-ee, not the kiss-er! He. Kissed. Me!"

"Cause you're a tease, any guy would want to!" he snapped back.

"Well at least I'm not a Serial flirt!" she countered without thinking over his comment, or the fact that he was reacting to something that didn't directly concern him. She could expect something like that from Johnny, or Ava even, but not Bradin.

"I-" he started but she was on a steam and she cut him off.

"Or a complete jackass like you!"

"God, you're unbearable Montgomery!"

"I'm unbearable? You're the obnoxious narcissist here, and its _Lennox_-Montgomery idiot!" she threw back at him emphasizing the Lennox as though she was speaking with someone mentally incompetent.

"And you're melodramatic," he cooed to her face.

"Conceited!" she threw at him

"Brat!" he countered

Chanting insults back and forth, they'd stepped closer and closer to each other and before either could stop it from happening, it happened so fast, their lips met and let free the bottled emotions and desires.

Aaliyah's palm splayed across his chest, clutching the front of shirt, urging him closer as the other ran through his hair as Bradin had one hand tangled in her hair and the other on her neck puling her closer gaining fervor by the second.

Bradin pushed her back, still locked in the embrace till they reached a solid surface, the kitchen counter, and his hands ran hungrily down to her waist, pulling her close, as close at humanly possible as both Aaliyah's hands ran through his hair now, tugging on it, drawing a smothered moan from him as he lifted her and placed her on the counter. Aaliyah's legs curled itself around him as they kissed fervently and hungrily, so fervently it was almost explosive.

His skin was on fire for the touch of hers and his fingers crept under the hem of her tee-shirt, moving along her belly, inching upward, higher and higher. And then..

The front door creaked.

Aaliyah detached herself from him and Bradin leapt away with such speed turning his back on the door to have a few minutes to compose himself and gather his thought before whoever it was entered the house. Leaping off the counter and Aaliyah swiped her bottle of water from the counter unscrewing the lid and placed them on her slightly swollen lips, chugging it down, but it did not hide the flush that crept in and began to color her high cheekbones.

They looked; and the both of them were sure of this, guilty as hell.

"Hey," Ava greeted them as she walked in with Nikki, each with a bag of groceries.

Aaliyah detached the bottle from her lips and replied, as did Bradin whose voice was slightly hoarse.

"Did you two get into another fight or something?" Nikki asked, curious.

"No," the two replied a little too quickly, "Why?" Allie added inquiringly.

"You look a little flushed," Ava replied instead of Nikki.

"Oh," she said casually placing a hand on her cheek, "Heat wave, damned Californian weather, you know," the words flowed out of her mouth in a stream of flawlessness as it would from a professional liar, Bradin had noted with some relief and a little disappointment as well that she seemed to have recovered from their steamy embrace so quickly. And easily.

"Damn, she's good," he thought, "I would have believed her myself,"

"Need help?" Aaliyah offered to unload the groceries.

"I've to uhn.. do.. some.thing.." Bradin said awkwardly before leaving the kitchen.

"Oh. My God." was all Zac could say when she told him the events of the day.

* * *

"That's it? The biggest freaking screwed thing that happens to me in Playa Linda and : Oh. My God.?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean OH MY GOD!" Zac exclaimed with much more vigor and even widening his eyes for a dramatic effect, and she punched his arm.

"I mean really, Adams and Westerly all in one day, now all you gotta do is score me too and you've hit the trifecta,"

"Eww.. Do not say that again!" Allie retorted in record time, clearly disgusted.

"Ugh.. I know, it'll be like me kissing Sydney-" Zac had started with a disgusted look on his face referring to his younger sister, when Aaliyah stopped him.

"Okay, don't ever ever Ever, say that ever again!" she repeated forcefully with her nose and forehead crinkled before flopping onto Zac's bed.

"What'd you gonna do?"

"I don't know, I don't wanna even think about it!" she groaned from his bed grabbing his pillow and covering her head with it.

"I can't believe it. My best friend's a hoe," he said to himself and one of his pillows hit him straight in the face.

"I heard that," she muffled from under the pillow and Zac merely chuckled. Things were so comfortable between them that it was almost like Aaliyah never left Playa Linda. It was one of those things you'd only have with a friend you grew up with, and she was thankful for that one stable, sane presence in her life.

"Hey, on the upside, you've snogged the second and third hottest guys in school,"

"Let me guess," she said through the pillow, "The first hottest being you?"

"Of course," Zac said with a smirk and Allie tossed the pillow over her head at him too.

"They can build monuments to your vanity," she explained.

"Yea, but Bradin's and Chases would be much bigger, no?"

"Oh definitely," she said without even hesitating.

Aaliyah walks into the kitchen as Johnny and Ava fuss around in the kitchen working on dinner. He turns around to look for something and Ava passes him the wooden stirrer, like a pair of old couple who's been together so long and go so used to each other that they'd learned to anticipate each other's needs without even needing to voice it out loud. Allie leans at the door frame for a moment just observing them. She wonders if they'd ever work things out and realize that they could never be Just Friends.

Thinking of any way to get them back together, Allie stood there with a look on her face which could have easily been misread as 'I'm plotting world domination', she was thinking so hard.

"Hey Rory," Ava said snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Hey," she replied walking up and sitting by the counter.

"So what's cooking ma?" Allie asked sniffing around curiously.

"Uhm.. Pasta," Ava replied, while draining the vegetables with such vigor, since taking on the whole 'mum' persona, she had made sure she included vegetables into every dinner, but somehow, she seemed a little on edge tonight.

"With the infamous Johnny sauce, of course," Johnny chipped in turning around to look at her from in front of the stove, stirring and adding something to the broth he had cooking.

"Hmm.. Sounds good, I'll just go change cause I kinda smell like Zac," she said, getting off the chair and headed for the room as Ava and Johnny both chuckled.

"Erika's in your room with Bradin by the way," Johnny called out after her and she flushed a slight bit recalling the earlier events.

"Oh," she said flatly, taking a moment to recover before turning back around looking hopefully un-flushed and un-awkward. "I guess it figures why Ava is so edgy," she thought to herself before settling down to sit by the counter again.

"I thought you smelt like Zac?" Ava asked, clearly wanting someone else in the room with her teenage nephew and his girlfriend.

"Bradin and Erika, in my room, me changing, yea, that's not gonna work for me,"

"I'm sure they're not doing anything, Allie," Johnny said wiping his hands on the towel by the sink and turning around to face her meanwhile Ava started slicing something dynamically with her back facing Allie.

"We're right out here, Nik and D' are out here watching the telly, an idiot would try to do anything," he tried pointlessly to reassure Ava more than Allie.

"Yea, you see the problem is," she tilted her head slightly before continuing "I would classify Bradin, under.. Idiot,"

"Just go change, the spaghetti's are almost done,"

"Okay, but if I'm scarred for life, you pay the psych. bills," Allie joked trying to get Ava to relax but to no avail.

Aaliyah didn't truly believe that they'd be doing anything, stupid as Bradin could be sometimes, he wasn't that dense, she just didn't want to be in the room with Bradin and his girlfriend after what had happened earlier. Awkward would not even begin to surmise the situation. So she made her way to her room, or rather, their room with heavy feet and took a deep breathe before slowly turning the knob and swinging the door open and slamming it shut almost instantly.

"Apparently he is that dense," she thought to herself with her hand over her eyes.

They had obviously seen her, if not seen then heard the door slam shut, Allie seemed to have walked in while things were getting hot and heavy between the two, on the bed, with Erica on top, and Bradin half unclad. Silently praying that Johnny and Ava in the kitchen had not heard the door, she had kept her hands over her eyes. The others seemed to not have heard the commotion and seconds later, Erika had left hastily with a casual and quick 'see you'.

Aaliyah walked into the room stoically, still in shock, she didn't know if she should be embarrassed for walking in on something like that or appalled. She didn't know if she should be upset seeing as he had just kissed her hours before or not, she didn't know if it had meant anything so if she was upset, it would make her look stupid, clearly it had not been anything seeing as he was making out with someone else but it was not as if they had a chance to talk about it, which made things worse. Her mind was going a hundred miles a second and she had all the conflicting thoughts and emotions which made things so awfully jumbled up and confusing in her head.

Bradin was seated on his bed, with his shirt back on and head in his hand as Allie closed the door behind her.

"Okay.. Awkward," she said in a small voice, leaning on the door after she closed the door silently.

"You'd think so, huh?" he snapped at her

"Yeah.." she said slowly and biting her lips, at a lost of an insult t throw back or a reply.

"Look, Allie, I-" Bradin had started saying but she beat him to the punch.

"We need to come up with a system," she blurted.

It was a stupid, nonsensical thing to say which probably had nothing to do with what Bradin had to say, but the words rolled off her tongue and slipped out of her mouth before she thought about it and before she realized what she was saying.

"What?" clearly as lost as she was.

"Cause I really don't want to be seeing that again," turning around to grab a change of clothes.

"Right," still a little confused. "Did she get amnesia and forgot so quickly about 'their' kiss?" he wondered.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about uh.. earlier actually," he started.

"I'm thinking scrunchy on the door knob, or would that be too feminine?" and again, the words just let slip before she could stop them.

"Wait what?" he asked again, wondering was it just him or was there no coherency in the conversation that was taking place.

"I mean or you could just lock the door next the next time, I could take clue, I mean.." Allie went on rambling while changing right in front of him, "Really, it's not that difficult, you just press that little button on the knob, poof.."

"Aaliyah! Stop!" he walked up to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"Sorry," she said.

"What happened in the kitchen," he veered the conversation away from this 'system' she was talking about.

"Was really stupid thing, and an error and.. and.. not gonna happen again," she continued for him.

"Great," he said inadequately and clearing his throat, "I mean, good," he said again nodding and letting go of her shoulders.

"Pasta time!" yelled Johnny.

_A/N Liked it? I bet you did, cause so did I, gotta love the drama right.. Review please, thank you!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N acciodanrad9: hey, thanks for reviewing! I hope this chapter was posted soon enough for you! )_

_This chapter's specially dedicated for acciodanrad9 for reviewing and JustTheGirl07 who's wondering about Johnny and Ava.. Review please, thank you.. Enjoy!_

_P/S Sorry if the previous chapters have been a little confusing, I forgot to use te horizontal rulers to seperate the different scenes.. ._

**Chemicals React.**

Aaliyah watched as Johnny and Ava worked on dinner in the kitchen, like two people who'd been together since forever, flawlessly staying out of each others way, passing objects over to each other when necessary and she wondered what it would take for them to realize that they were meant to be together, that the person in front of them were the perfect fit for them, that it was impossible for 2 people to be that comfortable being just friends for so long not be meant for each other. She wondered what it would take for them to see what everybody else could see.

Allie had taken to concentrating her energy on any other trivial matters but Bradin since the other day, things had been still a little awkward between them but had since simmered since the talk after she'd walked in on Bradin and Erika's steamy little episode on the bed, she was just glad that they had the courtesy to get on the right bed.

Leaning over and resting her cheek on the back of her hand, her mind flitted back to the conversation she had with Johnny in the bathroom after the fight she'd gotten herself into in school.

_"Honestly, Rore, I don't know, I just.. don't." Johnny said, defeated as Aaliyah put her feet up on the lid of the toilet to balance herself while holding the towel stinging her cheek tightly to her face._

_Although a little taken aback by his sudden change of tone and subject, Aaliyah jumped to Dr. Seuss mode anyway._

_"Why can't you two get it together?" she asked curiously_

_"It's not like we haven't tried Rore,"_

_"You haven't tried,"_

_"It's the how many-eth time we're going through his con-"Johnny started but Allie cut him off_

_"You haven't tried," she stated flatly_

_"You haven't tried because eventually she's gonna want to don on that pretty white dress and you're afraid you won't wanna be in a tux next to her,"_

_Johnny looked away at those words, looks like she hit right on mark._

_"Are you in love with her?"_

_"I think you know the answer better than I do,"_

_"You're in love with her," Allie stated stoically knowing full well that she was right_

_"She's the only one I've ever truly been in love with," he replied looking back up at her, "But it seems like it's not enough,"_

_"It is,"_

_"It's not," Johnny insisted_

_"How can you say that?"_

_"Because she'll never forgive me for asking Mona to marry me,"_

_"She never wanted anything but for you to be happy, she-"_

_"She'll never forgive me because I was ready to spend the rest of my life with someone who wasn't her but backed straight off when WE discussed marriage,"_

_"Johnny, she's in love with you, you're the only one she's ever been in love with," Allie said as he looked at her impassively, letting the words sink into his head._

_"Just take things as they go, one step at a time, she'll understand,"_

"Rory," a voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Yea," she replied instantly.

"Whatchah doing?" Nikki asked trailing her eye line to see Johnny and Ava in the kitchen and groaned as if reading her mind, "Yeah, I know,"

"Do you think there's anything we could do?" Allie asked this tiny smart girl nest to her as she crossed her arms, mind ticking quickly, trying to come up with a plan

"They're stubborn as asses," Aaliyah raised an eyebrow at her choice of words.

"Donkeys, mules, you know, asses," she quickly quipped, defending herself, and Allie simply laughed.

"Can't we just lock them into a room together or something?"

"Been there, done that, literally, didn't work,"

"I think all Johnny needs is a little initiative, you know a good push, I'm just not sure how, we need an excuse for him to bring her out,"

"Well, U2's coming to town,"

"What?" Aaliyah asked.

"U2, you know the band, I remember vaguely Ava saying it's one of her all time favorite band," Allie smiled before the words were out of Nikki's mouth, just remembering something, "Oh, that's just perfect, I know just what to do," she said and walked off.

"What?" asked the confused Nikki trailing her.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Bradin asked the suspicious looking Allie as she poured over her lap top on her bed.

"Nothing, go away," she snapped at him.

"No, I've seen that look, it's not nothing, let me see," he said pulling her lap top screen.

"No," she fought back, tugging on her lap top.

"What is it?" he asked struggling to see what was on her screen.

"I'm booking tickets, let go," she said smacking his hand, and he let go instantly when their skin collided.

"What tickets?"

"U2 tickets," she answered smiling slyly as she clicked on the enter button.

"Oh-Kay," he said confused.

"They're for Johnny and Ava dorkwad,"

"Watch who you're calling a dork, L.M."

"I'll call you a dork as much as I want, Dork!"

"Hey, I'm not the idiot trying pointlessly to get Johnny and Ava back together," he scoffed.

"It's pointless, and U2 is perfect, you know why, cause that's the first date they've ever gone on with each other,"

"Great, now you've just got to beat the into submission,"

"Oh, I don't resort to such primitive brute-like methods as you do, Westerly,"

"Whatever you're planning, it's not gonna work," he cooed mocking her.

"Oh, just you watch, it will," she said surely. _"It has too,"_ she thought to herself.

"Why are you so obsessed with getting them back together anyway? Just leave them be," Bradin retorted as he leaned back onto his bed, staring at his ceiling.

Thinking of her father, Allie just wanted, no, needed that small bit of hope, to know that it was still possible to love someone, because she needed the reassurance that in the crazy life in the crazy world, it was still possible to for two people to love each other.

She remembered the way her father had always spoken about Eleanor, she called her Eleanor because mother was not a title she had earned, she was a child, a petulant child who did as she pleased without regarding the consequences. She remembered the pained expression on his face, the tightness around his lips which told her he never quite got over Eleanor leaving, that he was still grieving. It was clear in his actions, his self-destructive pattern which involved one too many Brandy's or Vodka's coupled with Vicodin or Oxycodone or whatever painkiller he could get his hands on to cope with his recurring 'headaches'. Allie had been just a child, but an observant one, she noticed it however well he tried to hide it.

Allie remembered wondering how long was one person be expected to go on grieving? How lonely and wretched could one person be expected to make of his life in honor of a memory? A memory of a woman he loved so dearly who didn't love him back as much. James loved Eleanor with all his life, and what had that cost him? Madness, pain, and ultimately his life. She remembered wondering if he was entitled of happiness, though she didn't know that at that time, she was his happiness, the one thing that kept him away from the edge.

But at that very moment, all Allie could think about was that she needed that little glimmer of hope and her finger involuntarily twirled the ring around her index finger around her index finger.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Another long one, I'm on fire! muahahaha! But I promise you'll like this.. Review please, thanks.. _

**Chemicals React.**

_Bradin sat on his table in a futile effort to concentrate on his Calculus homework, books sprawled over the table, his mind had been preoccupied since the kiss he shared with Aaliyah hours ago. She'd escaped from spending time in his presence with the excuse that Zac needed help with His Calculus homework._

_"Hey boyfriend," came a voice from behind and a pair of arms draped over his neck breaking his trail of thoughts._

_"Hey," he replied turning around greeting his girlfriend with a pasted on smile._

_"Did we have a date or something?" he asked through his confused mind._

_"No, just thought I'd pop by, say hi, so.. Hi," she said leaning over to kiss him but he stood up instead._

_"We haven't been spending time, I know, but I've been busy with school and stuff," he said shiftily and guiltily wondering when the last time it was he had an actual conversation with her let alone gone out with her._

_"We could spend time together now," she said seductively taking a step to stand right in front of him looping her arm over his neck._

_"Yeah we.. We could.." he said clearing his throat, "But I got like a ton of Math to work on.." he said pushing her arm off._

_"Is it just me or are you totally blowing me off here?" she asked._

_"Look, babe, I've just got.."_

_"Brae, I know you're busy, with school and surfing, but I really can't be the one keeping this up, you're the one who wanted to do this," she stated referring to their relationship. Lately, conversations and efforts to get together seemed to be awfully one-sided, and not from the side that originally initiated the relationship. _

_"It's just.. I've just been.." he started, thinking of an excuse "busy.." he finished somewhat lamely. _

_"Then make time, like right now," she said backing him up, looping her arms around his neck again, "I've missed you,"_

_And somewhere deep inside, Bradin knew the right thing to say right now was "I missed you too," but he didn't feel like he did, but a reply didn't matter anymore as he felt Erika's insistent lips on his as they flumped onto the bed. It took him a moment but it wasn't long before he was kissing her back too. Tipping his head back, Erika kissed away from his mouth, down his jaw and across his neck, her tongue skimming his earlobe pulling away just a moment to pull his shirt over his head before connecting their lips again._

_Bradin felt her hands run up his chest and he allowed his hands to dip into her short shorts at the waist._

_He opened his eye for a moment to check the door and from the corners of his eyes he saw the door swinging close before he heard it slam shut, convinced that out of the corners of his eyes he saw Aaliyah's brown hair whipping around before the door closed._

_"Shit!" was the first thing that pooped up in his head.._

_"Damn! Damn! Damn!" was the next as the two pulled away from each other._

_"That wasn't-" Erika started but he cut her off._

_"I think that was Allie," he said "You should go, it's almost dinner time anyway,"_

_"And Ava wouldn't like it if I stayed," she continued his sentence for him as he fished to get his shirt off the floor._

_"Call me," she said leaning over for another kiss, getting an awkwardly short one on the lips before leaving the room._

_Bradin put his head to his hands as he thought of how he was gonna deal with the mess._

_"Okay, awkward," _

The door clicked shut softly.

Bradin's eyes snapped open and in the dark saw the silhouette of Aaliyah deftly trying to lock the door with her slender fingers without a sound.

"What are you doing?" he asked groggily.

"Ah!" she jumped to find Bradin awake. He picked up the clock next to him to check the time.

"It's 4 am where the hell were you?" he asked noticing that she entered from the balcony door.

"Out," she answered simply.

"Yea, I noticed, do you know what time it is?" he asked wide awake now.

"Who died and made you my mum?" she asked back in a stage whisper, pulling up her sweaty hair into a pony tail. It was dark but he could make out her tank and shorts, and see that it stuck to her body as though it were wet, which it probably was. Aaliyah sat on her bed and pulled off her shoes.

"You went out for a jog?" he asked as he squinted at the shoes she pulled off.

"No, I went for a swim with my jogging shoes," she snapped back as loudly as she could in a soft tone of voice, careful not to wake anyone as she grabbed a towel. It had been days since the day he had just been dreaming of when she entered, and things were as normal as things could be between them again, they were back at their usual petty squabbles and both seemed to have pushed thing far from mind.

"You went out for a jog at 4 in the morning?" he asked again with disbelief, squinting to make out her form on the bed catching a small glimmer on her finger as she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear while undoing her shoes.

"Technically it was 3 in the morning, I ran for bout an hour," she replied, "Couldn't sleep,"

"Thoughts of me keeping you up again?" he said for some reason, smirking The two had overlooked the little incident days before and this was the first time Bradin suggested something like that in a while.

Allie turned around to face him in the dark and wondered how she almost forgot how good looking he was when she saw him on the bed, without a shirt on, hair mussed up on the pillow no doubt and still looked like an add. Her sudden silence startled Bradin who was starting to think "You idiot Westerly!"

"You have truly outdone yourself Westerly, just when I thought there actually was a limit to your self-praise," she said sardonically.

"I do not-"

"All the ladies love me," Aaliyah gave a bad imitation of Bradin

"I-"

"God, it's so hard to run away from all the screaming and begging girls," she ploughed on rolling her head while saying it.

"As I was saying," he chipped in before she continued, "I don't praise myself, I.. tell it as it is," he continued with a smirk.

Allie scoffed and turned to go for a shower, shaking her head in disbelief.

* * *

"Good evening, and do you know why the evening is good? Cause you've a date right now, both of you and I'm gonna be home tonight, alone," Allie said with a bright smile as she entered the kitchen that morning.

"Are you high?" was all Ava could say, Aaliyah was not such a homey person but she seemed to be ecstatic to be staying home.

"Nope, just happy,"

"You have a big party planned tonight don't you?"

"I do not!" tearing open a bag of chips in her arms.

"Well cancel it, Susannah's will be staying at Matt's tonight and Nikki and Derrick are going to be home, and you need to baby-sit," Ava said.

"No problem," she said plopping a chip into her mouth from the massive bag of chips in her hands.

"With Bradin," Johnny added

"Okay big problem," she said through a mouthful of chips.

"Why?" Ava asked.

"You mean apart from the fact that Bradin and I won't have any adults to stop us from killing each other?"

"Nikki and Derrick will do just fine,"

"Have fun," she called out after them as Johnny and Ava turned to leave.

"Don't tear down the house," Johnny joked as they made it out the door.

"Don't be home before 12," Allie called out after them as the door closed.

* * *

It was a little a little past one and Bradin and Aaliyah had successfully made it through the night baby-sitting Nikki and Derrick together without killing each other. After dinner, Bradin had run out to get a movie and they curled up on the sofa watching it while eating popcorn Allie whipped up. It was a smart thing to do as they couldn't properly and affectively argue without disrupting the movie. And to avoid any possibility of setting off an argument, she took one couch with Nikki where as Derrick sat on the floor and Bradin sat alone on the one-seater.

Aaliyah and Bradin cleaned up everything and after Allie had checked to see that Nikki and Derrick were really in bed, she turned out all the lights and headed her room to find that Bradin was on his bed, under the blanket, falling into sleep and that she had left Her blanket in the hall where they watched the movie, Nikki was feeling cold so she had brought out her blanket so they could curl up comfortably on the sofa.

As Allie went to get her blanket however sounds of Ava and Johnny's laughing could be heard. She opened her door a slight bit to take a peek.

"So do you think this counts as our first date, or like our millionth?"

"Millionth, definitely," Johnny answered confidently.

"Why?"

"Cause if it was our first, I wouldn't be able to do this," and he leaned over to give her a kiss. Allie looked away for a moment hoping they'd go to bed soon so she could retrieve her blanket but a lot later they'd still haven't broken apart, and they were embroiled in a full make out session, flopping onto the couch. As Ava pushed Johnny's jacket off Allie shut the door closing her eyes, "Okay, not watching anymore,"

"Watching what exactly?" came a voice and her eyelids flew open.

"Johnny and Ava, on the couch, doing.. stuff, on my blanket," she said flatly.

"Okay, not image I needed in my head,"

"Not an image I need on my blanket," she upped his comment.

"Ugh.. Why is it so damned cold? Its California damn it, not the Antarctic's ," she said to no one in particular hugging herself as she flumped onto her bed. She had opted for her flannel pajama top and shorts instead of her usual tank and pajama pants as it rained in the evening, downing the temperature by a very large notch.

Bradin seemed to contemplate it for a second before voicing out what was on his mind.

"Okay, just shut up and get here,"

Allie paused for a moment. "What?"

"Do you want to freeze to death or what?"

"Uhmm.."

"Just get in bed,"

"No," she argued for her pride's sake but then came a gust of wind out of nowhere which sent shivers down her spine.

"Allie, you're gonna get catch a cold and Johnny and Ava are gonna kill me, just get your ass here,"

"Fine," she finally caved and got under the covers in Bradin's bed. It was a single bed so there would have no space for maneuvers to start with but with both of them in it, there was even less space for anything. Allie lay on her back for a while and decided she wanted to flip to her side, but instead she fell out of bed forgetting how little space there was for movement of any kind.

Bradin let out a chuckle.

"This isn't funny,"

"Actually, it kinda is" he taunted her laughingly sitting up on the bed.

"Shut up, like you've never fallen out of your bed before," she snapped while on the floor.

"Oh, you see I haven't which is why exactly why this is funny, even after waking up a zillion times by your flumping on the floor,"

"Oh, go away," she answered before stubbornly staying on the floor with her arms crossed.

"Just come on Aaliyah," he said offering his arm to pull her up. She looked up at his hand in the dark before taking it and Bradin pulled her up onto the bed. This time, she lay on her side facing outwards. Another blast of air came from no where again and she shivered involuntarily. He heard Bradin sigh before his arm pulling her close.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Keeping you warm," he replied curtly.

"I'm fine," she said as she tried to suppress another shiver.

"Yea I'm sure,"

"I am! It's your bloody breaths that making me shiver," she insisted willfully, resisting his strong arm.

"Just stop being so damned stubborn okay," he said as her body gave another unvoluntary shiver and he persistently pulled her close draping the blanket over both of them tightly.

It wasn't long till Aaliyah was warm and effectively dozing off, Bradin however had no such luck, the smell of her hair overwhelmed him and the feel of her body against his under the sheets kept his mind sufficiently conscious, but after several more minutes, sleep prevailed and his eyes slid close.

Allie awoke during the night to find herself facing Bradin and her arm resting on his naked chest under the sheets and his around her, and for some reason just didn't give a damn. Perhaps it was because she wasn't even awake enough to start with but as for now, she'd just go back to sleep with his toned upper body so close to her that she could feel the warmth and she almost snuggled in closer to bask in the warmth in the cold mid night.

It was late in the morning when Aaliyah awoke to find that Bradin was still asleep in front of her, and she was still wrapped closely in his arms. She wanted to snuggle closer but her brain being mindfully aware of what a light sleeper he was refrained from doing so, not knowing that Bradin had been awake for some time and was thinking the very same thing with his eyes shut, so instead she closed her eyes and tried to lull herself to sleep again.

And then her eyes snapped open again and she jumped out of bed when she realized, "Did I just contemplate snuggling closer to him?" she wondered shaking her head.

"Hey," Bradin greeted her sitting up realizing that she was finally awake.

"Hey, yea, sorry did I wake you?"

"Actually I've been up a while, didn't want to wake you,"

"Clearly you were more considerate," she chuckled, "Sorry," she apologized again.

"No problem,"

"I wonder if it's safe to go out there?"" she wondered aloud.

"Well I wouldn't, they could be naked or or or.. like still going at it or something, you've no idea the scars you'd get from walking in on that,"

"I'll clearly be needing a new blanket,"

"Ya think?"

"Oh, God," Allie groaned


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N acciodanrad9: Thanks so much for the reviews, am glad you're loving it so far, love your feedbacks, this one's for you. _

_Oh, and BIG surprise in this chapter! And of course as always, Review please, thank you! )_

**Chemicals React.**

He wonders what she was thinking, and what she was doing at that very moment, she wasn't in bed, and she was agile on her feet, moving so swiftly and carefully in the dead of night that no one would have heard her walking in the kitchen, not even if there were people listening out for it.

However, Bradin was listening.

And Bradin was almost sure he could hear her feet moving across the floorboards not far outside his room. He felt like a disgusting, twisted pervert for picturing her slender feet and long legs moving across over the wood and tile floors, yet each time he closed his eyes, there it was, the picture he had painted so intricately for himself.

His eyes popped open and for the umpteenth time, Bradin told himself to _"Stop fantasizing about Allie!"_

It had become a mantra Bradin often repeated in his head like a broken record, since the day of the incident in the kitchen. Allie seemed to have pushed their little episode from mind especially after what she'd walked in on the very same day, which he was grateful for, or he thought he was, because in truth, there was a part of him that didn't want her to have so easily forgotten about it. Especially since the memory of her lips on his had begun to fill the majority of his waking hours, amplified after the night of Ava and Johnny's date. And, like tonight, chased away sleep when he wanted those waking hours to end. He wonders if she really did see it as a slip up, a mistake, because suddenly, it didn't seem like one to him. But he also knew how he felt about Erika, or he thought he did. He wonders if he really does know, he wonders if he really should care about how wrong it was, the kiss, because in fact it had felt absolutely right, the way their kiss met in a blaze, pressing insistently on each other.

And that had of course brought him right back to _Stop. Thinking. About. Aaliyah._

With that firmly out of bounds, he'd think about Erika, and how things had drastically changed for them. And then he'd begin to wonder if Ava had been right about it, that it was just a phase he was going to outgrow, that Erika was not the girl for him, or was it in fact Aaliyah's presence in his life which changed things.

And then his wayward sleep-deprived brain began to form questions about her, why he had felt she was so different from the rest of the girls her age, he wonders about her unexplained life in New York and the ring that always rested on her index finger, something he had come to notice just recently, how she was quirky in an endearing way that only she could pull off without looking like a total freak, how a girl as gorgeous and witty and smart as Aaliyah was somehow only interested in friendship with all the males she knew, he begins to wonder how she could be so cautious around the opposing sex limiting herself to only friendships yet kissed with her soft lips so abledly against his, which.. only brought him back his mantra.

_"Stop fantasizing about your damned 'room mate', Bradin!"_

"You have a girlfriend, her name is Erika," he had to remind himself which was somehow, somewhat difficult, especially since the memory of the kiss he shared with Allie still seared on his lips, their one stolen moment in time, where 2 volatile elements were put together and the earth didn't shake, the wind didn't blow and the storms didn't hit, the earth didn't spew forth lava and the stars stayed in the sky, time itself didn't stop and it seemed to be perfectly right, even if it had been weeks ago.

Bradin wonders if this was his breaking point, where he'd need someone to pull him back from the edge, to tell him that life had her way of working things out and to _stop thinking about Allie_ and to just stop and go to sleep. As he closes his eyes again, determined this time to go to sleep, concentrating on the image of the ceiling before shutting his eyes, Bradin wonders if life could get anymore complicated. The springy board in the specific spot in front of the refrigerator creaked and his eyes snapped open again against his will.

Bradin sprang out of bed, unable to contain his thoughts to his skull any longer, trying futilely to lull himself to sleep despite his mind that was wandering to unchartered territories at a hundred miles a second, he slipped out of the room quietly, careful not to wake anyone else as Allie had been.

Stalking out of the room, he found Allie exactly where he knew she'd be - the kitchen. She sat on the high stool and was sipping something from her mug with a distant look in her eyes. Before her was a silhouette of something that resembled a tub of ice cream. The flame on the stubby cream colored candle next to the tub flickered slightly and along with the moonlight, it spilled over her fair skin which had not begun to be affected under the strain of the merciless Californian sun as her sun-kissed highlights in her hair had been, illuminating her fair skin and bronzy hair which was messily tied into a French plait, strands sticking out here and there and a lock hanging over her eyes.

Aaliyah had on a fairly well fitting tank top that hugged her body loosely with a pair of flannel pajama pants, a comfy looking pair off which went well with the dreamy far-off look Allie had on her face. A jolt sparked in his head which set off the warning bells though it had nothing to do with his fully-developed imagination, he wasn't quite sure what it was and ignored it as he continued to watch her, leaning on a pillar nearby.

There was a blank unemotional look on her face as she gazed out to the window, probably willing herself to hear the sounds of the waves hugging the shore, crashing onto the rocks, another one of those things he'd noticed she did. However her eyes told a different story, there was a sadness in her eyes, like a navy widow staring out at sea waiting for the return of a husband whom she knows will never come back. And it had invoked something.. primal within him, to want to reach out and protect her, to hold her and pull her into his arms as he did the night she shivered in the cold.

As he stood there, watching her with his messed up thoughts and emotions, one of her hand around the mug, the other tracing the skin on her arm up and down, Bradin felt a shiver run up his spine which had nothing to do with being cold - he had not put on a shirt climbing out of bed and getting out the room so fast. Looking away to not take notice of her exposed perfect porcelain skin, perfect lips, perfect neck, perfect curves, Bradin's eye caught on the clock, which ticked to exactly midnight at that moment. This catches Allie's attention too and she whispers something before blowing out the candle in front of her and picking up a spoon.

"You're not worshipping the devil are you?" Bradin says in a stage whisper regaining his composure by seeing this weird act, which had made Allie nearly jump out of her skin. Her head snaps to his direction so quickly that she swore she had heard a click somewhere along her vertebrae.

"Bradin, what the hell?" she replied in the same whisper before letting out a shaky breath.

"What are you doing?" he asks sitting down next to her, or rather in front of her due to the way she angled her chair to face the window.

"I got hungry," she replied in a soft glower pulling out a massive scoop of Ben  
& Jerry's cookies and cream.

"Yeah, cause hungry people lights candles and blows them out at midnight chanting,"

"I wasn't chanting," she says through a mouthful of ice cream.

"What were you doing then?" he asked again dipping his finger into the tub and licking it.

After the long time it took for Allie to swallow the massive scoop of ice-cream she shoved into her mouth, probably to buy time and contemplate telling him the truth or just to snap at him like she usually did, she seemed to have finally decided and answered his question, "It's my birthday,"

Bradin paused for a moment, of all the possibilities and questions he had wondering, that had not been on the list somehow though it was so blatantly simple and obvious.

"Happy Birthday," he said.

"Yea, that's what I said," she replied attacking the tub with the spoon yet again.

"What are you doing up? Worshipping the devil?" she threw back.

"Couldn't sleep, too much coffee this morning," he lied immaculately

"Mmm," came to an absent minded reply as Allie held the long spoon that she'd left in her mouth, Bradin forced himself to look away as he was reminded on how soft they looked against the metal spoon bracing himself and preparing himself for a snide comment, something witty, sarcastic or smart like she always did, Bradin needn't remind himself that they'd gotten back to bickering like children two weeks ago after the kiss and he waited for the retort she'd throw at him, something they'd become accustomed to expect from each other, but that retort never came.

And as he looks over at her, he wonders how it is that with all the tumultuous emotions that the kiss had invoked in him, he can still sit in silence with her, in the dark yet feel strangely peaceful and comfortable, almost serene, as though there had never been tension of any sort between them.

"Uh.. Johnny? I need a note to skip school today," Allie asked as she poured herself her cup of coffee with a donut between her teeth, but as the donut didn't leave much space for the words to come out right or accurately it sounded more along he lines of, "Oh, Wohnny Needawoe Ski School ay,"

"What?" was the only sensible reply for any normal person who didn't speak the I-Have-A-Donut-In-My-Mouth language.

Aaliyah repeated the question after taking the donut out of her mouth and a sip of coffee to wash it down, and Johnny followed it with a why instead, "I know it's your birthday but I can't really write you a note to skip school for that,"

"I've to head to Sweeny & Arbuckle's or something or other, they gave me call yesterday, something bout my dad's will, they need me over today," she said draining the rest of her coffee and downing the remnants of the donut in a breeze that it seemed she didn't even bother to chew. Allie was dressed out of her usual attire, donning on a short sleeveless empire-waist dress/blouse over a pair of jeans and black pumps for the meeting with her dad's lawyers.

"Uh, sure, do you want me to go with you?" he asked as she picked up her bag and next to him and taking his keys at the same time, "No, I'm a big girl now, but I'll borrow your SUV, aite? Sorry, I'm kinda already late.. Thanks!" she called on the way out without waiting for a reply or protest.

"Drive safe!" was all that Ava and Johnny could yell out after her.

* * *

"What?" Aaliyah-Jayne asked perplexed and clearly confused.

"Miss Lennox-Montgomery, if you would jut sign here the 13 million dollars in the Swiss Bank under your father's name will be transferred under your name as well as all his properties and estates in several-"

"What?" she asked again cutting him off.

"Your father left you fortune, to be inherited at the legal age of 18,"

It took her a while for the words to sink in before her eyebrows came together again, "Wait what?" and the man in the navy blue tailor-made suit and expensive thousand dollar Cartier watch with a line of graying silver hair merely looked at her with a look of empathy. Just seconds before he had read _The last will of James Lennox-Montgomery_ using words she didn't even know was in the English vocabulary like 'Devise', 'Bequeath' and 'Conveyancing'.

"My dad wasn't rich, it was the very reason why Eleanor left him, he.. he can't be, I mean, he- How could nobody have known? I.. What did he do?"

"Your father was in love with the uncomplicated life in Playa Linda, he worked mostly from home as a top management recruit, he did mostly head hunting for big firms, in exchange for big pay checks, he was very good at what he did, this is a favor I owe him,"

And it all made sense, her dad worked from home, he was always in the office, which was natural she mused, seeing as it seemed to be one of those jobs which required extensive research making lots of phone calls, reading massive loads of files, calculating risk factors and what not, but it seemed so hard to believe, he lived in a simple beach house, lived a simple non-extravagant life even when he could actually afford to splurge.

Allie wanted to sit there and ask him questions all day of her father, it seemed like she didn't even know him at all, but Mr. Sweeny was a busy man and she could hear his secretary answering phones like a crazy person, and his cell buzzing in his pocket, all havoc wrecking through his office because of this one stalled meeting, so she refrained from doing so, excusing herself after all the formalities for the will, walking out in a daze.

It wasn't till her cell rang when she realized she sat in the SUV for an hour without driving off.

"Hello?" she answered to find Johnny on the other line.

"I think I just inherited 13 million dollars in spare change,"


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Considerably a short one.. Sorry, don't kill me.. run away as things are being thrown at._

**Chemicals React.**

"Will you stop that!" Aaliyah snapped at the person next to her.

Bradin's head shot up and saw Zac looping Allie's hair around his fingers and pulling on it and then releasing it for it to curl for just a second before lying limp again. His eyes lingered between them a moment, observing the interaction between them before looking away uncomfortably, playing with the fork in his hands, casting now and then, unnecessary glances at Allie and Zac.

"Why?" Zac smirked tugging on her hair again "It's fun," he said deviously.

Fall had passed with an ease and Playa Linda was ushering in the winter. Ava and Johnny decided to have a little get together, a dinner to celebrate Allie's birthday a few days late as well as the upcoming winter and the gang, including Jay and Isabelle, Zac, Matt and Susannah had assembled outside on the beach for dinner. Johnny had moved the wooden table out front onto the sand earlier that day with a help from Bradin and Matt and set 2 bench stools on either length of the table and Ava had lighted some candles for when the sun set, but at the meantime, they just flickered unnecessarily on the table.

Allie had been in charge of dessert and the salad and the potatoes and her job was done so she was just watching Susannah and Matt as well as Jay and Isabelle being mushy. She was sure Johnny and Ava were being mushy in the kitchen too as they watched the roast so she just stayed out.

Clearly, the mushiness bored Zac to tears as he had taken to harassing Allie and her sun-kissed blonde-streaked hair as Nikki, Cameron and Derrick had taken to being glued to the telly inside as they played the new PS2.

Bradin on the other hand had taken to fiddling with his fork while Zac continued to harass Allie and her hair.

"Grow up Zac," Allie impulsively snapped, getting annoyed and playing tug of war with Zac with her hair.

"But this is so much fun," Zac replied gleefully as he tugged the ends of her long hair, tugging not too hard obviously.

"Zac!" she cried tugging on her lock of hair attempting to free it from his grasp.

Before anything else could happen however, Bradin slams the fork heavily on the table with a loud bang that caught even Susannah and Matt's attention who were sitting at the far other side of the table. Astonished, Zac loosened his grip on Allie's hair and it hung unopposed in Allie's hand.

"Someone's bitter about their break up," Allie whispers as Bradin stands up and leaves the table twirling the lock of hair Zac had abandoned earlier.

It had seemed that the battle of wills between Ava and Bradin over his relationship with Erica had found its winner and Ava had prevailed. The details were a little fuzzy but all anybody knew was what Bradin told, which was they had broken up.

Allie would have allowed herself to think that the kiss after the huge blow up in the kitchen the other day was the cause of this, but she had pushed it so far from mind that in light of the turns of recent events, with her birthday and finding out her dad was a millionaire and inheriting everything and what-not, it was not something that had occupied her mind.

"So Allie, you haven't actually told us what you wanted you're your birthday yet," Ava asked after dinner, passing round the tray of brownies Aaliyah whipped up for those who'd wanted seconds.

"Hmm..? I don't need presents. Who need presents when they have Thirteen Million dollars in spare change?" Aaliyah replied waving her fork around, rather recklessly, and if they hadn't watched it, someone might have lost an eye.

"Rory, still, it's your birthday, there has to be something-" Ava said while the others chuckled.

"What? With Thirteen Million Dollars, I can get Myself presents," she said with a mouthful of chocolate brownies.

The people around the table grinned, they'd become accustomed to this rush of high-ness whenever Allie had ingested too much sugar or upped her caffeine intake, which was a near fatal level, but this highness was a high that had been amplified lately due her sudden rainfall of inheritance.

"Rory," Ava's voice had somewhat reached a threatening level for no reason.

"I mean, with Thir-Teen million dollars I can buy myself Thirteen million dollars worth of presents, do you know how much that is? It's thirteen Million dollars," she said dramatically.

"Rory, stop saying that!" Ava snapped exasperated.

"Why? Cause you need to announce you're getting married?" Allie asked absent mindedly as she put another mouthful of the heavenly chocolate brownies into her mouth.

And then there was a silence.

A silence only broken by the sounds of the waves crashing onto shore.

And within that silence, no one spoke, no one moved but stared at Ava agape. Allie's fork was still in her mouth as the matter of fact.

"Oh my god, are you serious?" Allie had said pulling out the fork, and finally regained use of her esophagus to swallow and form a sentence.

Ava looked at Johnny before looking back at the other occupants of the table.

"I'm getting married," she announced in a loud whisper, almost breathlessly.

And all the males at the table took it as a sign to close their ears and leave the table as quickly as humanely possible as all the girls burst into screams worthy of murder.

Nikki and Allie had jumped up to hug each other and Isabelle looked genuinely happy before the three of them went over to embrace Ava where as Susannah had her in a tight squeeze already.

"You're getting married," Susannah said, tears welding up in her eyes.

"I'm getting married," Ava repeated and they hugged her tighter.

After the whole screaming fiasco, and after the girls had considerable calmed down, and Ava had broken down to knitty gritty's, how it happened, when in happened, how she was gonna plan for this wedding and then when she was exhausted of material Nikki had taken to be the reporter and held a ketchup bottle to Allie face.

"So tell us Aaliyah, how does it feel to play cupid?" and she pondered the question for a bit, making a face with her brow knitted together looking oddly uneasy.

"Uh.. Uncomfortable, make it go away," she joked and everybody simply laughed.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N This ones kind of a filler chapter so that you don't read the next one and go 'eh' so yeah, but to compensate, the next one's coming real soon._

_Anyway, thanks so much & for the reviews ShiaLover09 and aciodanrad9…_

_Enjoy.. _

**Chemicals React.**

"Whoa, don't you think you're going a little overboard here?"

"Well.. No actually, I mean you're right, we've been dancing around this forever and we're finally getting it together, so I was just thinking it should be a little more.. you know.. Romantic," Ava replied as she stuck some more pins into the white dress on the stand in front of her. It was a beautiful white dress, an intricately woven wedding gown with pearls and beads and intricate lace over ivory satin.

Aaliyah let her finger caress the fabric for a moment before stepping back out of Ava's way as she stuck some pins at the hems of the dress. She sat with one leg on the table amidst the masses of lace, papers with sketches, pins and pens and what-nots strewn across it looking exceedingly messy.

"So your idea of romantic is a two week thing up in Malibu with 4 teenagers, family and friends?"

"It's the winter break; I thought we could do this as a family thing, celebrate our wedding with Christmas and New Years, it'll be like our mini honeymoon since we can't really leave the house to Susannah alone to handle you pack of chimps,"

"Again, your idea of a honeymoon is to spend it with us?" Allie asked, "Honeymoons are meant to be spent in places like Rome, to explore the beautiful places and the beautiful architecture, and.. God's very own architecture,"

"Rory!"

"What? You know it's true, and besides I'm 18, Ava, not 8, I know all about birds and bees by now,"

"Well, I suppose so,"

"Hey, so have you told her?" came another voice from behind.

"No, Susannah I haven't," Ava replied to the voice who came in with a large palm pilot with pages sticking out, menu choices and guest lists and anything else for the wedding she was sure, Susannah had insisted that she'd help take care of everything and they have been discussing the details with such excruciating detail every night till the wee hours of the morning.

"Wait, what? Tell me what?" she asked energetically practically bouncing on the table.

"Well.." Ava started putting the pin cushion down and getting up to face Allie, "I was wondering if you could be my maid of honor, it would mean so much for us,"

"Ava, are you sure? I mean Susannah-"

"is so swamped with helping her plan this last minute wedding that she'll kill you if she has to be maid of honor too," Susannah continued the sentence for her and they all laughed.

"And if it wasn't for you, we'd probably have taken another 20 to 30 years to get here," Ava added holding her hand.

"Yes, and throw in the fact that I'd have to walk down the aisle with Bradin, yea that wouldn't help either," Susannah added absentmindedly flipping through the pages of her palm pilot.

"What?"

"You know, grown black woman, teenage white boy walking hand in hand, not the best match,"

"No, back up to why would Bradin be-"

"Johnny didn't tell you? He asked Bradin to be best man," Ava answered without needing to hear the rest of the question.

"Why?" she asked before quickly adding "I mean, I thought it'd be Jay or something,"

"Oh, he helped Johnny out a lot on this; did you know he helped Johnny pick out the ring?" Ava replied holding out her ring once again

"Aww.. Who knew he was such a sweetie," Susannah said admiring the rock on Ava's finger once more.

"Who knew he's got such good taste?" Aaliyah said instead as she too took a closer look at the ring, and Ava and Susannah chuckled slightly.

"So come on, be my bride of honor?" Ava prodded again.

"Of course I will," and Ava pulled her into a tight hug.

Before there was even time for anyone to blink, winter break had dawned and the gang were packing the car with their bags and luggage for the 2 week trip.

"Rory, you really shouldn't have," Ava was saying.

"Ava really, it's no problem, just take it as my wedding present to you," Allie said casually stuffing her duffel into the trunk of the car.

"The 4 Seasons? Is it just me or is that a really expensive present?"

"Oh, the hotel were giving away them for free," she said closing the trunk and Ava gave her a look which basically said do-I-look-like-an-idiot?

"In exchange for money," she added in a small voice.

"I just don't want you to blow all your money now and not have enough for college,"

"Ava there's gonna be enough for college,"

They had gone through the argument about a million times so far. Allie had moved some cash around and booked the honeymoon suite and 2 deluxe rooms at the 4 seasons for Johnny and Ava, Allie, Nikki, Derrick and Bradin.

The wedding was going to be a simple small beach wedding with a pastor, some friends and family, and then they'd stay on to celebrate Christmas and New Years as a family.

Aaliyah figured that the couple deserved a little extra rather than a regular suite that Ava had booked due to monetary constraints. The act of course wasn't all that selfless; part of the reason was that she didn't want to be in a room next to Johnny and Ava's, God knows she's been scarred enough already. And of course she didn't want to have to be stuck with Bradin again for 2 weeks; Ava booked 2 suites, one for the kids and one for her and Johnny.

But of course she had managed to convince herself that it was all for a greater good to book 2 separate rooms, one for herself and Nikki, one for Derrick and Bradin, as she didn't want Nikki and Derrick to witness them killing each other, but the truth was, she didn't trust herself to be around Bradin so much, with other's company or not, as the more time they spent together, the more the unwanted feelings within her grew.

"Come on guys, we're not gonna wait," Johnny called out jokingly to them and Ava smiled before they both climb into the car.

_A/N I'm not quite sure where Playa Linda is but for arguments sake let's just say that it's within driving distance of Malibu okay? Oh, and I'm not quite sure if there's 4Seasons there either but I couldn't think of any expensive hotels as of now, so, oh well.. ._


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Here it is! Woohoo!_

_Anyway.. This is a preemptive apology for another short chapter, and for the fact that I'm not going to go into the details of the wedding and the fact that the flashbacks don't really make much sense to the story right now. _

_Again, thank you ShiaLover09 and aciodanrad9._

_Read, Enjoy, and Review.. As gossip girl puts it, you know you love me. _

_XoXo mAnomaly_

**Chemicals React.**

Allie lay on the sand enjoying the breeze and the sounds of the soft waves crashing to the shore. Winter had made things a little chilly, and there were little people along the coastal shores apart from herself and even fewer in the waters. The sun was glimmering in a distance like a huge orb of light suspended just above the horizon.

Aaliyah's eye caught the only group of people who dared to brave the frigid waters.

_Sitting in the waters alone in the corner, the brown haired girl kept away from the loud music and the couples practically chewing each others faces off and the martini's and the shots and other games her friends played in the outdoor pool. She tilted her head back to wet her hair and turned around to place her hands on the edge of the pool above the water to watch the gleaming sun sink into the concrete buildings that loomed overhead._

_"You're missing that luau you used to live in don't you?" came a voice from behind her._

_"For the last time Chris, it's not a luau, and yes, I miss Playa Linda cause the sun is suppose to set against water, you now sink into the horizon, not into concrete sky scrapers,"_

_"I would hardly classify Bendels as a sky scraper, but hey, you were from a small town,"_

_Allie let out a laugh shaking her head and looking away. Christian gazed at her affectionately with a smile on his face, admiring her smile. Allie waved her hands underwater a bit before pushing it up above water level._

_"Let me guess, you miss soaking in waters that aren't saturated with chlorine,"_

_"Right again, Van der Graff," she commented jokingly. "I almost forgot how observant you are," and he merely chuckled._

_"Why aren't you with the party?" she asked after a moment._

_"Well, you know Carter right? Tall, dark hair, devilishly charming with the patented smirk? Yea? Well, Carter's being.. Carter so I figured I'd keep a fellow friend company,"_

_"Well, he wouldn't be Carter O'Connell if he wasn't doing any underage partying and exploits,"_

_They both chuckled and Allie looked over, true enough, Carter was on the recliners with another girl on his lap and feeding her what she assumed to be a shot with that smirk of his. Chris said something and she turned away just as Carter looked over at his best friend and Allie in the pool and his smirk faltered._

"Allie!" someone called out and her head snapped to the direction so quickly that she swore she heard her head crick.

"JJ, hey, Kirsten, what are you guys doing here?" she asked the 2 girls who made their way towards her on the beach.

"Oh, a few of us decided to come down a couple of days over the break before Christmas,"

"A few of you?" she asked.

"Yea, it's us Connor, Zac and a couple of other people from school," JJ answered.

"Oh cool," Allie said and her cell buzzed. Glancing at it, she saw that it was Ava and that she was late for the 'rehearsal' Susannah had insisted they have the day before the actual thing so she did a quick 'call me', a hug and mad a mad dash back her room.

The 'rehearsal' Susannah had insisted was in fact the bachelorette's party planned for Ava well, minus the striper and down on the booze well, the wedding was the very next day and well, Nikki was there as well, so Ava spent the night in Allie's room and she woke everyone up in the morning with her frantic pacing around the room.

"Ava, why are you up so early?" Susannah asked bleary eyed and stifling a yawn.

It had been one long night which had involved a lot of tissue paper, girl gossip, chit chat, giggling and red wine for those over 18. As a result, Ava's blonde hair was now wild around her head, as though she'd combed her hand through it a dozen times and tied up in a messy ponytail.

"Early? I'm getting married in 2 hours, this is not early!" Ava practically screeched.

"Okay, down Rover, down," Allie said in attempt to calm Ava but to no avail she was pacing frantically around the room, in her underwear, poring over a list with one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

"I can't calm down, the hairdresser's not here, he's supposed to have been here an hour ago, and he's not here now, and I look like this, I can't do this, I have to cancel the wedding, I just can't do this, not looking like this, someone has to go tell Johnny that-" Ava's rambling was stopped by Allie who stuffed a bagel into her mouth and pried both the list and the coffee out of her hands.

"Okay, you've clearly hit your caffeine limit," she said as Ava pulled the bagel out of her mouth and was about to say something, but was cut off by Allie again.

"I'll do your hair, Susannah'll do you make up, Nikki will call everyone on the list and make sure everything is ready, and Leo will get a call at the end of today and be infinitely deaf after I'm done with him. You. Just need to calm down, okay,"

"I-"

"Okay,! That's settled!" Susannah clapped her hands together pushing Ava to sit down in front of the dressing table, cutting her off as Allie passed the phone and sheet of paper to Nikki who was standing there slightly confounded by the speed of things.

"But I-" Ava began.

"Eat," she said pushing the bagel into her mouth before she could begin again.

Allie took a sip of the coffee she pried from Ava and picked up the comb.

"Now, let's tame this menace then, shall we?" she said as seriously as she could.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Okay, so I was guilt ridden and decided to post this now as opposed to tomorrow, so enjoy.._

**Chemicals React.**

Aaliyah tossed around in her bed trying to get some sleep however there was something in her mind that prevented any hopes of a peaceful slumber, perhaps it had something to do with the massive amounts of alcohol coursing though her veins but Allie was blaming in on the music thudding from opposite the hall, it wasn't even that loud, Nikki had dozed off hours ago, but Allie decided that it wasn't the fact that she was drunk as a skunk but that it was in fact the music that was keeping her awake.

Bradin had conveniently took to shifting Derrick to sleep in Aaliyah's room to throw a party with Connor and the rest of the gang. Allie who had had one too many drinks already anyway during dinner, decided not to join in hoping that it would avoid a hangover from hell that she already had coming anyway.

She rolled over in bed pulling the pillow over her head in hopes of downing the music but to no avail. Abandoning any thoughts of slumber, she pushed the thick covers over her head and padded her way to the kitchenette for a bottle of water and then decided that she should crash Bradin's party anyway, clearly she was not gonna be getting her forty winks with the alcohol pumping through her body. She made her way out of the room and the door opposing hers swung open almost at the same time.

"Allies!" JJ squealed pulling her into the room without another word, "You decided to join us anyway!" she giggled, JJ was usually this gigglish, but from her breath, Aaliyah figured that she'd been spending some time with gin and vodka.

Entering the room, she saw the place as a mess, some bottles strewn here and there and Kirsten, clearly the drunkest in the group was dancing avidly on the coffee table, pretty much alone without her pants on, just an oversized button up shirt.

_"I can do way better than that," Allie said loudly into the ear to the male next to her with the dark brown hair, so dark it was almost black. The loud music with thumping basses making it rather difficult to communicate with one another. With a smirk he replied, "Then go strut your stuff,"_

_"No!"_

_"Allie!"_

_"Carter!" she said, mimicking his tone._

_"If you say you can do better than prove it,"_

_"I'm just saying, I can do better than that," she said referring to the two other blondes disorientedly dancing on the coffee table of the penthouse suite where which music was blasting from the stereos and drinks flowed lie water from behind the bar._

_"Then get up there," he challenged and Allie looked at him cocking her head._

_"You don't believe I'd actually do it do you?"_

_"I know you won't," he retorted with his patented smirk. In her Martini hazed mind she Aaliyah got up and climbed onto the table starting to move with the music. She had on a button up white shirt which she'd loaned from Justin after spilling a drink on the top she had on and a short skirt. _

_Dancing to the music, swaying her hips with her hands running up her hair, something she'd never had done unless she was dared to or drunk or both, which in that case was the latter, her hands made her way down and began undoing the buttons of the white shirt her feet moving nimbly with beat on the smooth surface of the table._

"Allie! Come on truth or dare," Everyone was huddled around the coffee table and someone had turned of the music, Kirsten was no longer on the table too as the small group sat around, some on the sofa, some on the floor, playing a game of truth or dare, they'd been going at it for almost two hours already and Allie had been doing a series of ridiculous dares from finishing a bag of marshmallows to doing a catwalk on the coffee table with JJ.

"Do you even have to ask?" she said leaning over to grab the bottle of vodka from JJ. Pressing some lemon into the shot glass, she filled it with vodka and downed it. Zac had fallen asleep on the couch with Kirsten next to him and a few others were just slowly dozing off at various parts of the room, on the table and on the carpeted floor as the game slowly eased down.

"Okay, your dare is to.." before the red head girl whose name Allie couldn't recall could finish the dare however a voice of reason interrupted, "Oh, come on, she can hardly stand up straight right now, she's been downing shots like they're water," Connor the only person who was as close to sober in the group argued, and there were some scattered laughs from around the table.

"I can too Not stand," she unknowingly agreed with him pushing herself up on her feet as if to prove her point. But before she knew it she was on the floor wondering how she got there. More scattered laughs and Allie was sure she could hear Bradin's voice amongst them before they loomed into view above her face.

"Agile are we tonight?" he mocked

"I think I'm gonna be sick," she groaned putting her hand over her forehead.

At this moment the rest of the gang who was still awake decided to return to their room leaving Connor, Bradin and Allie sprawled on the floor on her back.

"You take her back B, I'm falling asleep right here,"

"I don't not need people making tee back," Allie argued mixing up her words as she tried to get to her feet only to clumsily fall over, passing out on Bradin for good.

"Great," he whispered, "A little help Connor?" but true to his word, he'd already fallen asleep right at the same spot on the couch.

"Damn it," he cursed as he lifted the unconscious Allie up to place her on the sofa.

Fishing out her room card from her pocket, surprised that she had actually brought her room card in her drunken state, he placed it on the table deciding to hydrate his system first and not pass out as Allie had done. Feeling more sober with water in his system, Bradin lifted Allie into his arms with ease and her head lolled to the side, locks of her hair brushing against his arm. Goosebumps ran up his spine as he resisted the temptations to do anything else, and kicked her door open.

Placing Allie on the couch, he crouched by next to her to brush a lock of hair off her face and studied her features and her so fair it was almost translucent complexion. He was getting up to leave however, Allie's hand shot forward to grab his shirt with such force that he thought she had awoke from her slumber. But when she mumbled something inaudible to the human ear, Bradin was sure she was still asleep, or passed out, or whichever it was that she was.

Trying to peel her hands form his shirt, he found it to be useless as she had his shirt on a killer grip.

"You are such a pain in the ass," he said before settling down on the floor, unable to travel any further than an arms distance from Allie.

At that moment Allie mumbled something and Bradin caught his name in the sentence this time.

"What?"

"The wainbows go too high,"

Bradin chuckled to himself as he figured she was sleep talking. Allie bit her lip and tossed her head a little as she shifted her body to the lay on her side, causing the lock of hair to fall over her eyes again.

"God damn you're screwed, Bradin," he told himself as he let himself slide onto the couch, facing her, finally giving in to the temptations fueled by the courage ingested by the dozen or so shots he had downed earlier, secretly glad that he had a reason to stay, hardly realizing that she had let go of his shirt and just let her hand slide over his waist pulling him close to her as he too fell asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Short one, kinda a filler but I'll make it up in the next one, promise! Reviews are always welcome._

_ShiaLover09 : Haha, thanks.. I try.. Hope this was fast enough for you.._

_6Ellie6 : Don't worry, I'm pretty new at this too, just started out, thanks for reviewing by the way, and sorry there's not much Bradin and Allie in this one, kind off just a filer, but there'll be more in the next one, so hang in there!_

_Read, Enjoy and once again Thank you.._

**Chemicals React.**

"HEY LOVERS!!" A voice pierced through the morning leaving Bradin and Aaliyah to fall off the couch in an entanglement of limbs.

"Nikki!" a clearly hung over Allie flinched from the loud voice and the light streaming into the window. Her throat was dry, her head was spinning and every sound and light felt like it was amplified a billion fold.

"A simple 'Wake up' would have sufficed you know," said Bradin as he picked himself up from the floor from next to Allie.

"Wait a minute," Allie though to herself confusion sinking in.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she asked with her face still scrunched up, from the million tiny men whom was drilling into her skull coupled with the confusion.

"I.. don't know," Bradin lied in his less than articulate hung over state.

"Sure," Nikki said smugly as Allie merely groaned and grunted a 'Whatever' before making way to the nearby kitchenette for water. Even in the hazy disoriented mind, she knew water was going to help.

"I don't!" and Bradin continued insisting for the rest of the day that he didn't know how they ended up asleep in each other's arms on the couch before Nikki screamed into their ears, when in truth, he was fully sober and knew full well what he was doing when he let himself fall asleep on that couch. Bradin was just too proud to admit it and Allie, well, Allie was unconscious at that time so to speak and was as clueless as Bradin pretended to be.

The rest of their days up in Malibu was comparatively uneventful and before they knew it, the 3 Westerly children and Aaliyah was back in Playa Linda and back to school.

Allie flumped onto her bed and breathed a sigh.

There was a knock on her door and she yelled for whoever it was to come in.

"Not bad, not bad at all," Zac commented as he entered the room.

"Why thank you dear sir," Allie replied in the thickest southern accent she could conjure. She had just finished unpacking her things into the boat house and it looked much better to when she had just started with piles of things unorganized here and there and boxes of her unopened stuff which she didn't have room for in the room she shared with Bradin.

"So you wanna hang out now you're done unpacking?" Zac asked as he sat on her chair in front of her study table.

"No, I want to be left in piece in my slice of haven now that I'm done unpacking," she replied not moving from the bed.

"Pig," he jested kicking her immobile feet.

"Yes and because I'm such a pig, you'll need to pass me that bag of chips behind you cause I'm just too lazy to move my hand about 2 feet to get it," she quipped and smiled smugly as Zac did as he was told, but not before he popped a few into his own mouth of course.

"So, tell me, who's asked you for the spring dance?"

"I thought it was the girl's choice?" Allie asked back.

"Yeah, but we blokes at Playa Linda like to bend the rules a little bit,"

"I'm sure you do,"

"Not me, girls are lining up from here to Chicago to ask me," Zac shot back.

"I'm sure they are," she replied, just to humor him.

"How bout you? Anyone on your radar?" he asked blatantly ignoring the 'whatever makes you happy' tone of voice she had on.

"No, but I'll be working it-" and Zac cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

"You work it girl friend," Zac said girlishly.

"taking couples keepsake photo's," she finished her sentence.

"Oh, well, if you're interested in working it the other way, you're pretty hot in locker room talks, so you can pretty much ask any guys on the basketball team,"

"Well, I'm glad to say I'm committed to taking keepsake couples photos cause the journalism class is hosting it this year, so I pretty much can't get out of it," Allie said gleefully.

"Coward," he mocked while narrowing his eyes at her, Allie merely shrugged and ate more chips smugly.


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N ShiaLover09 : Oh, sorry - Allie moved into the boathouse because Johnny and Ava got married and now share a room, I guess I must have missed to mention that.. Soree.._

_acciodanrad9 : Hope this chapter, answers your question my faithful reviewer!_

**Chemicals React.**

"So.. Who're you going to the big dance with?" Ava asked coyly leaning on the counter as Aaliyah stepped into the kitchen.

"Uhm.. No one actually," she replied casually dropping her eyeliner into her large tote bag. She had on a strapless white dress top which was tight around the under bust and flared down with skinny jeans matched with black pumps. Her hair was tied into a low ponytail with her fringe pinned up.

"No one asked?"

"Ava, it's kinda the girl's choice," Allie chuckled.

"So you didn't ask anyone?" she questioned.

"Nope, I'll be working, taking keepsake couples photo's," she answered half-listening as she checked the large camera she pulled out of her bag.

"Bradin's gonna be working registration, and you're taking couples photo's, who said this family wasn't boring?" Nikki said walking into the room.

"Well, not all of us have a boyfriend to be stuck at the hip too," Allie replied teasingly referring to her and Cameron and Nikki turned slightly pink.

"Hey Nik," Bradin greeted giving her sister a peck on the cheek as he entered the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Hey," she replied before thinking for a moment, "You guys, I look okay right?" she questioned looking down on herself. Nikki was out of her usual clothes and had on a baby blue knee length strapless dress with sandals. She had a hint of blusher on and her hair was tied up in a ponytail instead of the usual hairband.

Bradin took a swig of his water studying his little sister. He too, donned on something out from his usual garments. He had on a long sleeved black shirt with jeans, and his blonde hair which had grown an exuberant amount over the past year was combed in front to one side giving the cool windswept look.

"Yeah, just fine," Bradin replied, knowing that that's the answer any person in their right mind should give to a girl no matter how she looked. Allie tore her eyes away from her camera for a moment.

"Uhmm.. Lip gloss," she replied sticking one hand into her bag and tossing a tube at Nikki.

"You look just fantastic, Nik," Ava said assuringly going over to give her a peck on the forehead as she applied the gloss Allie passed to her and walked out of the kitchen.

"Just relax Nik, it's a semi-formal do, and fantastic as the journalism class is, no amount of crepe paper can transform Playa Linda High's gym into a spring wonderland," Bradin said, trying to ease her up a little.

"Hey, use a little a little imagination would ya? And besides you haven't even seen the place, a little faith wouldn't hurt you, you know," Allie replied finally satisfied with her camera it seems as she put the cover back over the lenses and it's cushioned casing before placing it back into her bag.

"Trust me, the smaller your hopes are, the smaller the disappointment,"

"Oh, don't listen to him, look we've to go okay, the committee needs to be early, but you have fun okay!" Allie said to Nikki giving her a peck on the cheek before she and Bradin left for the committee's pre-event meeting which they were already late for.

Bradin was right though; when they had arrived, Allie had to try to contain herself from laughing. The gym looked like a box of crepe paper exploded into it. The dimmed lights did help an to an extent, as most details couldn't be seen in the semi-darkness, and the revolving stage lights did butch it up a bit by throwing a glow of color around the place, but all in all, it looked like, well, a decorated gym.

The night started out slow and as the place started to fill out with people, it didn't look half bad. And it wasn't long before both Allie and Bradin were busy with the task they had at hand and not need to try to hard to ignore the other's existence.

Things had gotten a lot more awkward between the two since the whole falling asleep on the couch in each other's arms, but luckily, Allie had her own room now, which meant minimal transaction with each other for which they were grateful for.

Bradin was stuck talking to Vanessa who had managed to corner him and was chatting animatedly to him as he was just about to leave the registration table and enjoy the party.

Allie was snapping shots of couples on the dance floor when she spotted Bradin by the table with Vanessa.

"That sounds.. great.." Bradin said with a forced smile.

"Yea, I know.. Isn't it like so cool, how you understand like everything I'm talking about? I mean, really, there is something like going here," she went on and on and on and Allie, who could see the nerve on his neck bulging from a mile away, being so familiar to it as she annoyed him countless times snapped one last picture before heading toward the registration table.

"You know what, I'm gonna go out and get some air," he said turning his back on her, in attempt to shake her off, no such luck

"I was just thinking that, isn't that so cool, I'll go with you," she said and Bradin tuned round with this hands raised as if he wanted to grab her by the shoulders and crush her as Allie made it just in time across the dance floor sliding her camera on the table and taking his hands instead.

"Dance with me," she said hurriedly pulling him away from Vanessa as she glared and crossed her arms when Bradin followed her out to the dance floor.

"My my, didn't know you wanted me this much," Bradin smirked as she pulled him to the middle of the floor, far away from the glaring Vanessa.

"I just saved you from life-imprisonment and sharing a cell with a big old guy named Trip, and this is the thanks I get?" Allie said as she put her arms around his neck and started moving to the music as it faded out and brought in the next song.

"I handled that fine," he scoffed as he followed her suit and placed his hands on her hips.

"Sure you did," she teased back looking up at his face and into his eyes and he looked straight back into hers.

_What day is it?_

_And in what my month this clock never seem so alive_

Allie looked away uncomfortably wondering if there was any more romantic a song they could play at that precise moment.

_I can't keep up and I can't back down_

_I've been losing so much time_

They're bodies continued to move in beat, swaying to the music and Allie eyes shifted back to Bradin's for a second, lacking of a better place to look at, only to find that Bradin too was throwing uncomfortable glances at various places across the gym.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to lose_

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Their eyes settled on each other once again and for that moment, as their bodies moved in sync with each other in a close but not quiet close range, as if they were a couple on the dance floor, a new couple unsure of what territories they were allowed to explore and what territories not to explore.

_What are the things_

_That I wanna say just aren't coming out right_

_I'm tripping on words_

_You got my head spinning I don't know where to go from here_

"What are we 5?" he asked jokingly referring to the gap between their bodies.

Almost as if it were a reaction, Allie looked down at her feet, studying her toes as they moved for a moment before looking up again, meeting his gaze uneasily and allowing herself to move her body closer to his as the music ploughed on slowly.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to prove_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Allie jerked her head a little to the right as she always did when a few strands of hair got loose from the pin got into her eyes, and he felt his breath get caught on his throat again when she glanced up at him again.

_There's something about you now_

_I can't quite figure it out_

As the music entered the bridge, Allie was almost sure she saw Bradin swallow as he stared intentively at her.

_Everything she does is beautiful_

_Everything she does is right_

The music entered the chorus again and Allie's hands on his neck for some reason traveled upwards and ran through his hair and his eyes slid close, welcoming her touch. And they stayed there just like that with Bradin's eyes closed and Aaliyah watching him, without even moving to the music anymore.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to lose_

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of _

Bradin's eyes opened with his hands traveled up the bridge of her hip and rested against the small of her back as he gazed back at her, eyes full of anxiety being on unfamiliar grounds, something she had never seen in his eyes.

_You and me and all of the people_

_With nothing to do, nothing to prove_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Bradin's entire body felt disconnected to his brain, as if some vital fuse had blown and he was operating completely on desire and instinct and he couldn't stop it as he dipped his head towards hers.

_What day is it?_

_And in what month this clock never seems so alive_

Allie began inching her head upward as well until the loud crash of drums in the next song interrupted her and she looked away instinctively toward the sound as did Bradin.

_A/N I do not own the song You and Me by Lifehouse, just thought to clear that up! Clicketteth the little button below!_


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N I just realized that I wrote Allie gave Nikki a peck on the lips instead of cheek, Eewies! I know! But no worries, I've fixed it, no harm no foul.. xD_

_Okay, so I don't want to spoil anything but I think we've all been waiting for this one to finally come.. Thank you for those of you who's stuck with me and patiently waited all this time, your endurance will now be rewarded.. _

_Special Thanks to ShiaLover09, aciodanrad9and 6Ellie6 who's reviewed, Appreciate it! I hope this is ASAP enough for you.._

_Enjoy!_

**Chemicals React.**

"What are you, stalking me?" Bradin smirked as Aaliyah walked out onto the patio and turned to go back into the house quietly spotting Bradin there.

"Oh, is that what they call avoiding nowadays?" she countered, turning back around to face him.

"Oh, so you do avoid me?" he said smirking.

"To the best of my extent, yea, cause I've been here a while but I Still can't stand you! Big shocker there,"

"Well, you're no bed of roses too you know!"

"I'm more tolerable than you!" she uncrossed her arms, anger flaring up.

"Puh-lease! People love me!" he groaned intertwining his fingers together and putting them behind his head as he leaned back onto the wooden railings.

"Confidence is not a virtue you know, especially in BULK!" Allie scoffed at him.

"I'm overconfident? You're the one to talk!" Bradin snapped at her, knowing full well that she was not in any way overconfident.

"And you're egoistical!" she snapped back.

"Well you're a bookworm!" he humored himself.

"At least I know how to read you illiterate ass!" Allie replied mockingly

"You can talk!" And thus began their childish game of insults and mockery, again. Both of them seemed resolved to push the piling up incidents as far from mind as possible and argue away any tumultuous emotions they'd felt between them as abhorrence and detestation, especially after the moment they had during the dance only hours ago.

Arriving home, they'd both stayed out of each other's way until that moment that is, where everyone else in the house was asleep in the dead of night except the particular pair which thoughts of sleep had been chased away in light of current events.

"And you're conceited!"

"Well you're a bore!"

"Juvenile!"

"Stuck-up!"

"Narcissist!"

"Snob!"

"Flirt!"

"Tease!"

"Jerk!"

"What? I'm a jerk?"

"Learned a new word, Bradin?"

"Conceited!"

"Sheep!"

"Oh, and that's a real insult! It really hurt!"

"Yes, because sheep means follower, idiot! And you literally just repeated my insult!"

"Duck!"

"And how is that an insult, dense-head?"

"Fine! Pig!" he said throwing up his hands in mock defeat.

"You insensitive ass!" she said shoving him backward slightly.

"Melodramatic!" Bradin countered, taking a step forward, not wanting to seem phased.

"Tactless!" Aaliyah spat at him taking one intimidating step towards him.

"Over reactive brat!" he replied as he took a step towards her as well. The insults were significantly getting more offensive and more to the bone with each strike.

"Idiot!"

"Nerd!" They were almost nose to nose now.

"Egocentric!" she scoffed, glaring daggers at him.

Bradin came back with, "Obnoxious!" whilst trying to tower over her attempting to make her feel diminutive although she was not all that small.

"Unbearable!" Allie threw at him adding in a finger at the chest. Things were getting a little too far, they were close to detonating soon, se could tell, but she couldn't just sit around and let him win, not now.

"Intolerable!"

"Reckless!"

"Over-prudent!"

"Delinquent!"

"Enticing!"

"Alluring!"

"Absolutely irresistible," Bradin had said while looking down at her, gazing intentively into her eyes.

And in a swift movement, Bradin allowed his hand to brush a stray lock of hair off her cheek, and tuck it behind her ear, deftly cupping her cheek after and before either could think it over, they both pulled into the same idea, their lips met keenly, letting free the bottled up emotions and desires that were so keen to burst forth that they couldn't contain anymore. It was agony and in one fleeted moment of passion, the determination and self-control was beaten and lost.

Slowly Bradin let his hands trace the outline of Aaliyah's face, her neck, her shoulder, down to her arms and fingers. His hand clasped in her own holding on tight as though it was the only thing that kept him alive, and again, Bradin slowly backed her up till the hit a surface, this time the door, and held her there in their embrace pinning her hands up next to her shoulders.

This time, the kiss was long and lingering, smoldering instead of explosive; there was urgency, yes, but also a mutual desire to take their time, to melt into one another slowly. The kiss slowly gained fervor, building in passion, stealing one another's breathe,

And then, she broke away from him but still held his hand in hers securely.

"This doesn't change anything," she said breathing heavily.

"Fine," Bradin arrogantly replied, equally out of breath.

"Fine,"

"Fine!"

"Good!" Aaliyah upped his comment scathingly.

"Great!" he quipped back

"Excellent!" she countered.

"Brilliant!" they continued to top each other's comeback, neither one refusing to let up or let go.

"Splendid!"

"Super!" she retorted defiantly.

"Marvelous!" he snapped back hotly.

"Magnificent!"

"Wonderful!"

"Fantas.. Oh, screw it!" Aaliyah announced as she pulled her hand away from his to grab hold of his shirt and pulled his face down to meet her own.

They were too stubborn to admit it, but they both knew; it changes everything.

_A/N No, this isn't the end of it, there's more drama to come, the flashbacks will all start to make sense right about.. Soon.. And the plot thickens.. cackles evilly.. muahahahaha.. And yes, I do realize this was a short one, but I just wanted to get it out cause I can sense you readers being impatient to see them getting together, and honestly so was I.. . Oh, and P/S Yes, there's a post script, this is an apology not for the shortness but cause I really didn't have time to look this one over, so you may find this a bit messy and get confused with the who said what, and find some punctuation and spelling errors, and I'm sorry for that, hope you don't mind.. Thanks. Now press that little button below which says go next to the words submit review. Come on.. You know you want to… Please? Okay I'll just shut up now.. _

_P/P/S Press that button I say! haha.. Kk, I'll go now, for good.. xD_


	19. Chapter 19

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N __A.Annie.N : I know! i was one of the few people, trust me.. It got a little bit boring they way they did that so I just threw them together, glad you like the story, love that you reviewed, hope you'll keep reading!_

_Thanks for the reviews, ShiaLover09, 6Ellie6 and acciodanrad9. You guys rock!!_

_This one's a little short, but the next one will be up like about.. now as an apology! But anyway, enjoy..! _

**Chemicals React.**

"Okay everyone, I'm gonna be out with the popcorn soon so if you gotta go, go now, don't wet yourselves later," Allie called from the kitchen as she popped a few warm ones into her mouth from the big bowl.

Susannah was spending the night at Matt's whereas Ava and Johnny had decided to keep married life paused on honeymoon bliss in a romantic weekend away, well, not that far away, more like a hotel room about 5 miles from the house and Derrick had some sort of camp so Allie decided to blow off some steam by doing a movie night like back during Ava and Johnny's 'first date'.

She heard the door bell ring and with a big bowl of warm pop corn in her arms, she went to get it, to find Cameron on the beach house doorstep.

"Cameron, hey.. Did you and Nik plan a date?"

"Uh, no.. She called me over, said she didn't wanna play the third wheel? or something"

"Hey Cam," came a chirpy sounding Nikki from behind Aaliyah.

"Third wheel?" she questioned cocking an eyebrow.

"You know it's true," Nikki insisted.

"You just wanted a reason to invite him over," Allie said narrowing her eyes at her.

"It's called killing 2 birds with one stone," she replied with a cheeky smile.

"I'm standing here at the doorway, not deaf," Cameron said waving his arms to get the attention of the 2 girls at the doorway blocking the entrance.

"Come in," Nikki said pulling him inside the house without another seconds delay and Allie shut the door.

"Certainty of death.." Allie imitated the dwarf with a hoarse voice quietly, "Small chances of success.. Well.. What are we waiting for?"

"Why do you pick movies that you already know all the lines to anyway?"

"Because.. It's fun to irritate you," she whispered back as the scene in the movie changed.

They were halfway through the movie and Cameron and Nikki had fallen asleep, they'd clearly had a long hard day in school as seniors were not the only people trying to make it through the finals that was looming. Allie took to sitting against the couch on the floor sharing the bowl of popcorn which had already run out with Bradin who was on the couch as he didn't trust himself to be in such close proximity with Aaliyah in the presence of others.

"And besides," she ploughed on, "It's not like you're watching anyway," she said sneaking a glance up to look at Bradin with a smirk who was indeed watching her instead of the movie, something that he'd been doing since the beginning of the movie which had started out as glances every few seconds and escalated to just staring at her, unable to concentrate on the movie anyway.

"Well, you're so much nicer to watch," he said teasingly and sunk onto the floor next to her, casually letting his hands rest on her shoulder after looking over to check that Nikki and Cameron had indeed fallen asleep. His words were true on a sense, she had worn a flannel pajama top with shorts like the other night and it was difficult for Bradin to pay attention to anything else after she walked into the room.

It'd been weeks since the night of the spring dance but neither of them had the courage to admit to friends and family or friends that they were seeing each other, thinking of the taunting and I-told-you-so looks they'd receive thanks to Nikki's insistence that there was something going between the 2 ever since the wedding. Also it was partially because they were both so busy with their studies and the looming finals and both their commitments to Mona's Sandbar and Beyond the Blue respectively, they didn't have a chance to take things further even if they wanted to. The fact that their shifts didn't coincide didn't do much to help either.

"Every time, I figure you've run out of lines, you just keep on surprising me, don't you Westerly,"

"It's not a line," he argued back liking the way she fit into his arms, almost as though she was made for him.

"Yeah and my shoes are made of gold," she retorted without turning to look at him, still immersed deeply in the film. Bradin could almost laugh at the way she would never tear her eyes away from a movie or a book or her lap top even at times. He would have found something else to say back but at that moment, he heard some movement on the other couch and his head shot up to see Cameron stir slightly.

Shooting a glance at the clock, Bradin sent Cameron home seeing as it was past his curfew and Allie put Nikki to bed before sneaking back around to the living room.

"Bradin, stop!" Aaliyah laughed as Bradin started kissing along her jaw line and got lower and lower down her neck.

"Mmmph.." was all Bradin could reply as he continued kissing down her neck, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her body closer up against his as he pushed the pajama shirt out of the way kissed across her bare shoulder before making his way up again.

"Brad--" Aaliyah started saying but her voice trailed off to bit her lip as he reached a spot behind her ear.

"You like that don't you?" he asked detaching his lips for just one moment.

"Mmm.. A little too much yes," she said pulling away just to have Bradin pull her back down facing him and she laughed as she awkwardly fell on top of his lap before letting him kiss her on the lips like he wanted to so badly.

Bradin's arm slid down to her lower back as Allie's hands ran through his hair, and she allowed her tongue to stroke against his teasing him before pulling away and letting out a breathy moan as she leaned her forehead on his before opening her eyes an pushing to get up.

"Hey, where are you going?" he squeaked, voice cracking holding on to her arms as she stood up.

"To bed, it's late," Aaliyah replied in all seriousness but a smile tugged at her lips when she saw what effect her words had on Bradin.

"Am I invited?" he asked roguishly standing up in front of her, not letting go of her hands yet.

"Hmm.. Well, do you want to be invited?" she asked back, innocently.

"Well, it depends on what we'll be doing in bed," he asked as innocently as he could.

"Sleeping, you perv," she laughed

"What sort of sleeping?" he probed

"The kind with your eyes shut and body immobile," she replied pretending to be shocked by his intentions.

"You should try it sometime, it's pretty refreshing," she continued.

"So is what I have in mind,"

"Well.." she said seductively and leaned up to his ear, "Why don't you go do it yourself then?" she whispered into his ear before turning around to make her way to her room, leaving Bradin going insane alone in the living room.

_A/N So how was this, bad? Yea, I guessed, this was awfully rushed, didn't have time to check it, just let the words flow, let me know if it's not too good? Or somehow just off? Cause I might redo it if I've the time.. Anyway, Let there be Reviews!! Muahahahaha… _

_Haha, you should be used to my weirdness by now right? Sorry this one took so long to come by the way, I had a busy couple of days and again, thank you for the reviews, love 'em, keep 'em coming! They get me all hyped up and excited to post the next one and the next one and the next one.. _

_xOxO mAnomaly_


	20. Chapter 20

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Well, as promised, here's the next one.. albeit a short one, yes, another short one, but it gives us another good healthy dose of what I've come to name BrAllie.. Haha.. Or BrAaliyah, hmm, I can't quite decide which sounds better, I'm a little inclined to BrAaliyah though, what do you think? I think it has a quiet a ring to it, don't you.? Hmm.._

_Oh, and yes, the next one might take a while too, Might, just a might, depends on how my day goes tomorow, I'm kinda being swamped by so many things as of now, that I'm actually proud that I've managed to get to writing let alone get to writing 2 chapters._

_Anyway, I think this chapter would be what you guys call.. uhm.. fluff? Well, without further ado, I shall shut up now and 3.. 2.. 1.. Start reading.. _

**Chemicals React.**

Aaliyah was late to class and she knew it, it wasn't the fact that the second bell had already rung as she stepped into the school compound but the fact that the corridor was deserted and empty as she ran to her locker. She made a mad dash for class when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into the female bathroom. She was just about to give the person a piece of her mind which was racing and worrying about several assignments which had piled up due to her degree in procrastination, finals and being late for class again when she heard his voice.

"Hey," he had said and then planted his lips on hers. She smiled against his smile which had in turn made him smile and they stayed in their embrace both smiling against each others lips that she was so sure they'd have looked so sickeningly cute as a third persons point of view.

Bradin could feel himself sinking into the sink counter right there and then as her sweet-tasting tongue delved into his mouth, her slender leg curling itself around his, all of these things became the extent of his world. He spun around carrying her and placing her on the counter instead.

Aaliyah let the kiss go as long as till she was out of breath and pulled away.

"Hey," she replied.

"Hey," he said again equally out of breath, "How's class?" he asked jokingly.

"Pretty well, considering that I'm here in the bathroom with you instead of actually being in class," she replied cheekily with her hands still on his neck and his around her waist.

"Remind me again why we've to sneak around like this?" he asked.

"It's called a stolen moment cause we're being sneaky about it," she answered with a smile, "And besides, if Nikki even sees us, she'll have a massive ego expansion which will, without a doubt, squish us all,"

"Well, I guess we should just enjoy being alive then," he said with a sigh pulling her to his lips again as she chuckled and obliged to his lips anyway. Breaking the kiss, he let his lips trail down her neck as she exhaled from the feel of his lips on her pulse points and let her eyes slide close, her back arched in unabashed bliss. Allie let her hand run up his neck and tangle itself in his hair before she smiled thinking of how it would annoy him if she did what she had in mind at that moment.

"You need a haircut," she said as he continued kissing down her neck.

"Having a moment here," he voiced removing his lips from her neck to look at her in a defeated sigh.

"Your hair's grown out too long,"

"It is not too-" he began to protest when he frowned in mid sentence when a particular lock of blonde hair, as though mocking him, decided to get into his eyes at that precise moment.

"You were saying?" she said brushing it backwards combing her hands through his hair and he exhaled to her touch and closed his eyes for a moment as a shiver ran up his spine.

"I.." he started saying before pausing for a moment and opening his eyes.

"..just lost my trail of thought," he continued glancing to the right trying to remember and Aaliyah chuckled and carried on messing up his hair with her hands.

"But I believe we were doing something else before you so rudely interrupted,"

"Were we?" she asked dumbly.

"Oh yea," he said suggestively, placing his hands on her hips pulling her close, smiling when her eyes crinkled up as she laughed, the laugh meant only for him, the girlish way she chuckled like she was a 4 year old girl. She leaned over and allowed him his wish and he closed his eyes in contentment as she put her hands to his cheek, permitting his lips to brush against hers, again and again and again, gaining fervor as they went.

As she let her tongue stroke along his, letting him imagine a great number of things, Bradin wondered if this was a new form of torture, the way she drove him crazy making him want, no, need more. It was almost as if she was a drug to him and he groaned as her hand slid to his chest, pushing him gently away. Their lips pulled apart reluctantly. He looked at Allie, her lips parted as she panted for breath. She looked so sexy right then that it took all he had for Bradin not to lunge at her lips again.

"We're late for class.." was all she said as she slid off the counter. She knew it annoyed him when she broke their little stolen moments like that, and because he looked so cute when it happened, she just couldn't help herself.

"Allie.." he whined turning around to go after her.


	21. Chapter 21

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N ShiaLover09 : I know, I'm a very DramaTic person too, and all the fluff is a bit dry for the long run, so don't worry, drama re-enters here.. Thanks for taking the time to review, yet again, appreciate it!_

_Thanks 6Ellie6 and acciodanrad9 for reviewing, love that you guys are reviewing after EACH chapter, love you guys!! MuAH!_

_And also thanks to Imel for reviewing.. _

_As I said, drama is back in the house, dun dun dun……….. haha, okay, Enjoy.._

**Chemicals React.**

"Hey, ma, so what's for dinner?" Aaliyah asked as she entered the kitchen through the back door returning from her shift at Mona's Sandbar.

"Hey, biff, tonight? We're having Johnny steak," Ava replied throwing a smile over her shoulder as she stirred the sauce. She had on an apron under her tank and skirt and her was hair tied up in a ponytail which was rare, but she looked very domestic diva, very wifely and Allie commended her for the effort in her head.

"Hmm.. smells good.." Allie replied as she put her bag onto the table and sunk into the counter chair before perking her head up "You didn't literally, mean.. Johnny steak right? Cause you're supposed to still be in the honeymoon stage you know, not kill your husband and then cook him stage," she said with a mock seriousness

"Kill and cook who?" asked Johnny from behind her and she gave a relieved sigh.

"Oh, thank god!" she said dramatically and Ava laughed shaking her head while wiping her hands on the apron.

"Find it, find it!" Ava rushed Johnny, leaning over the counter towards her husband as Johnny sifted through the pile of letter on the counter.

"You.. got a letter from Brown," he said passing over an envelope to Allie.

"It looks a little anorexic for an acceptance letter," she said as she turned the letter over in her hands tracing a finger over the logo on the front.

"Good news or bad, you know we're proud of you," Ava said as she came from behind the counter and slid an arm around Johnny's waist. He did the same and they exchanged a nervous glance before looking back at Allie who thought about how it seemed like both yesterday and a century ago when she flew in for the interview. It seemed like both yesterday and a century ago when she came back to Play Linda. Damn, it was confusing.

She exhaled and tore it open, pulling out the letter; she left the envelope on the counter and proceeded to read the contents of the letter. She stoically read the letter in silence.

"Dear Miss Lennox-Montgomery," she began reading it out loud.

"It is with great pleasure," she continued, a smile creeping into her face "..that the admissions board at Brown University welcomes you to our institution," she paused for a moment as the words hung in the air and then she squealed and jumped both Ava and Johnny who were standing there by the sidelines and threw her arms around their necks.

"I'm going to Brown," she said as her arms danced around Ava and Johnny's necks.

"And we are so proud you," Johnny said with a chuckle.

"Oh, they're growing up so fast," Ava said to Johnny with a tear in her eye.

"Ava.. Can we please not turn this into a sermon of how quickly time passes and only yesterday we were kids running round the front yard?" Allie groaned with a stupid grin plastered on her face as she looked at the letter in her hands once again to make sure it was still there, and real.

"Oh, I can't help it Rore, you're going to Brown, Bradin's gotten into Berkeley-" she started as Johnny chuckled and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Bradin got into Berkeley?" Allie asked, still breathless and grinning, looking up from the letter.

"He just read his, just before you got back,"

"Oh.." she said simply, the grin was evaporating from her face pretty fast.

"That's great," she said, before adding to herself, for someone who's not me.

"So anyway, dinners not for another hour or so, why don't you go 'chill'?" Johnny asked using a new found lingo Derrick had taught him.

"No, I'll help, I want to," Allie insisted.

"Go.. Relax, 'chill', 'hang' or whatever it you kids do nowadays, you've deserved it," Ava insisted.

"Okay, a girl can get a hint, you guys wanna get mushy in the kitchen, I'm gonna go 'hang' at the beach," Allie said picking up her stuff and dumping it in her room before making it out front. She had a long day in school and a long shift at Mona's, she didn't really feel like surfing much so instead, she walked along the rugged shores a bit with her hair in a ponytail flipping behind her clad in her usual outfit, hoodie and shorts.

The sun set a beautiful glow over the waters and the wind was so soothing that she had already begun to miss Playa Linda thinking on how she would have to leave for college.

Aaliyah stopped walking as she spotted Bradin coming in from the sea dragging his board with him. She started going towards him when something caught her attention, or rather someone. Her long hair tied in a ponytail billowing behind her in the sea breeze and she had on shorts and a pink bikini top. Callie's face lit up as he approached and they entered a conversation, with a lot of giggling on Callie's part and her hand reached up to touch him a few times, on the shoulder, on his arm, casual little contacts, the simple signs that he clearly either missed or ignored.

Callie even not so subtly eyed at his wet body, biting her lips visibly. Since Aaliyah happened, Bradin had been influenced to not wear a wet suit, as Allie went on and on on how feeling the water and gliding through it whilst surfing was such a great feeling. He tried it once after much of a squabble and was hooked, not that Allie complained.

Allie was far enough to not hear exactly what they were saying but she could see them clearly, each move, each stolen glance Callie gave, she could even hear the scattered laugher from when they laughed. Callie looked so blissfully happy to be in his presence. Allie inhaled and let out the breath slowly.

_"Do you like Bradin?" _

_"What?" the question caught her by surprise._

_"Do you like Bradin?" Callie repeated her question._

_"Uh.. No, why?" she lied impeccably, she'd been convincing herself that a lot lately. _

_"Good, cause I've been like getting this vibe from the 2 of you, and it's a little weird you know," Callie said as she wiped the table in front of her. The two of them have been getting along pretty well, being in some same classes, hanging out with the same crowd, working at the same place. _

_"Weird how?" Allie probed as she cleared the table for Callie to wipe, balancing the glasses on her tray._

_"Cause I used to date him? Remember?"_

_"Yea, but it's not like you're dating now?" Allie stated as she carried another tray of empty glasses and dishes away from the tables. Mona's had a busy day and Johnny had left it to her to do the locking up, he headed home early for another date with Ava. She had to admit, things were going pretty damned good for them, you did an okay job, she thought to herself, pleased._

_"Well, yea, but I never really got over him you know, and now that he and Erika are history.." Callie trailed off dreamily with a grin on her face._

_"Oh.." Allie said somewhat inadequately_

_"I don't know, maybe, Christmas or New Years we'll bump into each other at a party, get together again, and we've both applied for Berkeley, so we won't have to make it work long distance you know," Callie continued to prattle on._

_"Bradin really did a number on you didn't he?"_

_"Yea, he did,"_

_"And if you tell anybody about this, I would have to kill you,"_

_"If I did, I really wouldn't blame you," Aaliyah replied and Callie chuckled before the two girls resumed their work._

She heard Bradin chuckle a little and he looked away, when he turned back around, seemingly to say something but Callie tip toed and kissed him on the lips. Not even a short peck on the lips but a long lingering one and Aaliyah turned around just as Bradin's shocked open eyes caught her brown hair whip around away from them and he pushed Callie away.

"Bradin!" Callie called out to him as he walked hurriedly away, as though he was chasing someone. He didn't reply as he went after a person who was not there and Callie just stood there in shock.

"Allie!" he called out when he finally caught up to her.

"Don't Bradin," she said devoid of emotion without turning around.

"Allie please," he pleaded.

"No, Callie likes you, she may even be in love with you and she's my friend, I can't-" Allie started saying but Bradin cut her off

"Allie, just hear me out first okay," he said grabbing her arm and twisting her around. Between the sun and the sea breeze, he'd dried up pretty nicely.

"I like you, a lot, and I'm falling for you, big time. I don't feel the same way about Callie, she kissed me and I pushed her away, and if that's how you feel about me too, fine, but I get this feeling that you've been pushing me away was because you knew she wanted to get back together with me all along, and you didn't want to hurt her,"

"It's not that Bradin," she said before stopping herself.

"Then what is it? You Don't like me?" he asked puzzled

"No, I do, a lot, a little too much actually,"

"Then the hell with Callie," Bradin replied impulsively

"Callie's my friend Bradin, but that's not the point,"

"Then what is?"

Life was so much easier before Allie happened, he thought to himself, he'd never had conversations this frustrating before.

"The point is I've been accepted to Brown,"

"That's.. Great, right?" he asked, beginning to get a little confused.

"Brown's in Rhode Island, Bradin," she stated.

"And I'm in Berkeley," Bradin replied, finally understanding her dilemma.

"I'm gonna have to leave after graduation," she declared sadly.

"What does that give us, Bradin? 2 months? Just enough time for our hearts to get broken? There's no happy ever after at the end of this tunnel, and I really don't wanna go there again," she ploughed on shaking her head.

And at that moment, realization dawned upon him. Aaliyah didn't leave New York; she ran away, she ran away because she had her heart broken. And that's why she didn't let anyone nearer than an arms length. She fell for someone, hard, and he broke her heart.

And Bradin stood there lost in his thoughts as she walked away. They'd wasted so much time, he realized, playing the games they played, dancing around one another, they'd lost months and months of precious time because of their games, and soon they'd need to go to college, and now there just wasn't enough time anymore.

He regretted the time they'd spent dancing around one another, looking at the time frame they had now. And with this unexplored territory came a strange pull in his stomach when he considered the times they'd argued and laughed and teased and joked and seethed and fumed, the stolen touches that he hadn't even recognized for what they were at the time; just another way to place himself closer to her, and the stolen glances when he looked at her for no particular reason.

He knew she was right, but he wanted nothing other than to pull her close and wrap his arms around her tightly, to feel the soft touch of her skin against his, to touch her lips again with his once again, to fight for her, fight with her for her not to do it, but before his mind could form the words and the actions, she was already out of sight.

_A/N Sorry for the late update, had a busy couple of days and my lap top just went beserk on me, don't get why I said no when my dad offered to get me a Mac, though I don't think he was serious but still, makes me think what the hell is wrong with you! Garr…! Anyway, yeap, a long dramatic one to compensate the lack of updates for the past few days, once again, sorry.. _

_Well, anyway, I didn't care much for this one, did you? Yea, I know, the drama wasn't really drama and I bet it was a little confusing.. And yes I know, I know, you hate me for breaking them up, but is all part of my plot, okay? And honestly I couldn't think up any more material for them being mushy and lovey dovey, it's really not my cup of tea, well I suppose I could if I tried but I have an outline to keep with here.. So bear with me.. Okay, I'm rambling, I'll shut up now.._

_Let me know what you think, clicketh that littleth button I sayeth.. haha.. Okay, next one will be up soon..! Promise!_


	22. Chapter 22

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N One word for you.. lap top.. kk, that was actually 2 words, but you get my drift, for some reason it just won't bloody charge and the battery was flat for the past few days and I couldn't get this chapter up cause all my stuff was written on my lap top without back up.. grr.. Stupid damned thing..!_

_Must remind self to save stuff in thumb drive next time.._

_Bleh.. Anyway, on with the story.._

_Oh, and yes, before we begin, I must say, a short one ahead, very short.. Just thought I should get that out to squash any illusions of a long chapter.. but I apologize for the shortness and I promise the next one will compensate._

_And thanks to those who've reviewed.!_

_Ladies and Gentlemen, without any further ado, Enjoy.. xD_

**Chemicals React.**

"As a rule, I like to start every school day with a hot brunette waiting for me at the school gates," came a voice from behind as Aaliyah stood in front of Playa Linda High.

"Me too," she replied to the voice looking up to glance at him who now stood beside her.

"I'm not a brunette," Bradin stated running his hand through his hair.

"..or hot" Allie added and Bradin opened his mouth as though to say something but he only paused for a moment.

"Damn it," he simply said and Aaliyah simply laughed as they walked into the school compounds together.

It had been 2 weeks since the beach incident and they'd decided that they'd were just friends. But she had donned on a strapless white blouse with a skinny jeans jacket and shorts with her purple sneakers and Bradin found it impossible to phrase a coherent thought just standing next to her.

"Okay I've tried, it doesn't work. You want us to do this whole platonic thing, you're gonna have to make some adjustments," Bradin stated finally after they walked in silence for a moment.

"Like what?" she replied chuckling, oblivious to what he was talking about.

"Like that.. and.. this.. and.." his voice trailed off as he referred to the massive show of legs and her brown bikini straps that were showing, the jacket didn't help much in hiding those.

"What do you want me to Bradin? I left my parka's and cargo's back in New York," she replied jokingly.

"Okay, I can't do this," Bradin said stopping on the spot in front of her.

"I'm gonna drop this dumb pals act,"

"Bradin.." she said warningly but Bradin ploughed on anyway.

"So what if we've got a couple of weeks, I'll take what I can get,"

"What about Callie? Did you even think about her?" she shot back almost immediately.

"Allie, it's been 2 weeks! 2. Weeks. That's like a decade in high school, she's a big girl, she'll get over it, and I'm actually thinking that you're just using Callie's as an excuse,"

Aaliyah looked away, why did he have to be so damned smart? Why did he have to have her all pegged up? She refused to answer him, too stubborn and too afraid.

"So we have a few weeks, happy right now sounds pretty damned good,"

"I don't want a happy right now just to pack up and leave in 2 months and-" she started but got cut off.

"You know there's this thing called the telephone, right? Yea, I heard it's pretty popular, and this new thing called in.? I hear that's pretty good too you know, in connecting people in 2 different places,"

"Bradin, you can't be serious,"

"About what?"

"About this," she replied gesturing at the two of them, "And about going long distance,"

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because you're Bradin Westerly, damn it!" she snapped back.

"What?"

"You're Bradin Westerly, you don't stick to one girl, especially one who's gonna be on the far side of the country from you, and I'd trust you.." she trailed off and looked at him in the eye, "I really would, but you'd just break my heart," she finished the sentence blatantly.

"I know you were hurt in New York," he too stated blatantly which left her staring at him.

"But, he who is too cautious is he who does not live," Bradin continued quoting a sentence he remembered from somewhere. He wasn't even sure what the exact quote was but he had to give it a shot, it seemed like the right words to be saying in the given situation.

"Impressive Westerly," Allie commented somewhat inadequately.

"So come on," Bradin shrugged putting his hands in his jeans pockets, "I'm fighting for us here.. Meet me halfway?" he asked.

"Why should I?" she asked, determined, but her resolve was wavering fast.

"Because I'm falling for you," he answered, "big time," he added, "and cause you're looking really hot right now and I'm thinking I gotta kiss you,"

"Well, I suppose if you have to-" but before the sentence was even finished, his lips were already on hers and she replied his keen kisses blissfully, not caring that they were in full view of the school right there and then, running her hands through his hair as she always did and he caressed her cheeks with his.

When they finally broke apart for air, Bradin breathlessly asked, "So this would be a good time to ask you out to prom?"

"We're not even done with finals yet," she replied chuckling.

"Well, it's good to plan ahead with you," he teased, "So come on, go to prom with me?"

Laughing as he tried to look sickeningly cute and attempted the puppy eyes, she replied and said yes before closing the distance between their lips once again.


	23. Chapter 23

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Oh Poo, I know this probably not my best work but I wanted to integrate the song, and I wanted to slit in the flashback and so here we are, I don't know, you tell me if it sucks, me trustee reviewers! And yes, I know I promised to update soon, I'ma sorry, isa the dumb lap top..! ._

_Hope you guys will like this one.._

_P/S oh, and this is a pretty long one.. Enjoy._

**Chemicals React.**

The waves crashed to shore with a crash and the wind gushed bringing in a surge of wind. Bradin flopped down onto his bed and exhaled. It had been a long day, finals were looming and he had to make sure he'd do well or Berkeley might yank the semi-scholarship they're offering. It was a long grueling day, filled with history and math and after school, he had to help Jay out at the store as he had the doctor's appointment with Isabelle.

He closed his eyes but sleep wouldn't come no matter how tired his body and mind was. Creeping up and headed outside, he was careful not to awaken any other members of the family, thinking of Nikki and how she'd gotten used to walking around with a smug look on her face since the day he and Allie kissed outside school. It was high school and rumors spread faster than wildfire and it wasn't long till that particular member of the family heard of it and persisted to tell everybody else in the family.

The guitar tinkled on the back ground softly getting louder as he approached the room a small walk from the kitchen door. The lyrics of the song hummed in the air softly through the heavy wooden door.

_Welcome to the planet_

_Welcome to existence_

Bradin knocked on the door softly with his fist, careful not to wake the other inhabitants of the house.

_Everyone's here_

_Everyone's here_

He rapped the door several more times, with added force, but still cautiously, it was late in the night.

_Everybody's watching you now_

_Everybody waits for you now_

Finally resigning to the fact that Aaliyah may have fallen asleep, he stopped knocking and exhaled, giving up.

"I hope you had a better day than I did, Aaliyah-Jayne Montgomery, I've been thinking a lot about you lately. And I'm really, really trying to figure out a way to not screw this up," he muttered.

_What happens next_

_What happens next_

Turning around, he headed back to his room, deciding that sleep deprivation had no space in his schedule for the days to come with finals in store the next week and what not.

_I dare you to move_

_I dare you to move_

_I dare you to lift yourself off of the floor_

There music was reduced a deliberate amount and then a soft click. Bradin turned around in time to see the door swung open.

"Hey," Aaliyah whispered rubbing sleep from her eyes. She was not in her usual sleeping gear though but in an oversized tee.

"Hey, I thought you were asleep," Bradin asked.

"I was.. Key Word here being was.." Allie replied, "How was your day?" she asked having just gone through one of those days where they had no classes together.

"Ever watched the Texas Chainsaw Massacre?" Bradin asked as he stepped into the room.

"Mmm.. Original or remake?" she asked groggily tying her hair up into a messy ponytail.

"Either," he replied and she paused for a moment after closing the door thinking.

"Uh.. Both, why?" she asked after a moments deliberation.

"Well, my day was kinda like that, just a lot worse," Bradin answered and Allie chuckled. "How bout you?" he asked instead.

"Hmm.. I'd say it was a cross between Citizen Kane, Good Will Hunting, Jaws and.. Rushmore," Allie answered.

"Okay, that is one weird and heady brew of cinematic references, and I honestly don't know what to make of it,"

"Between chasing and being hunted, getting over some skeletons in the closet and surviving high school and finals, I'd just say I had a pretty bad day and leave it at that,"

"Ah.." was all he could say.

"I kinda felt like that too," she commented

"I can never get tired of your cute little snappy comments,"

"Then why aren't you kissing me already?" she asked cheekily placing her hands over his shoulders.

"A mind reader as well, impressive, are there no ends to your talents?" he teased placing his hands on her waist and pulling her closer as Allie pretended to think.

"Mmm mmm.." she replied shaking her head, "I don't believe there is,"

_Where can you run to escape from yourself_

_Where you gonna go_

_Where you gonna go_

_Salvation is here_

The music was still playing softly in the background and Bradin operated purely out of desire and instinct, his hands lifted up to brush a hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear and then proceeded to deftly cupping her cheek in his hand and leaning in dipping his mouth towards her, watching her do the same and their mouths met tentatively and surely into each others embrace.

_Baby, redemption has stories to tell_

_Baby, forgiveness is right where you fell_

In one swift movement, he lifted her and carried her in his arms, reaching her bed and lowering them both onto it.

_I dare you to move_

_I dare you to move_

With his fingers tangled in Aaliyah's hair and her body molding itself to his and her lips warm and sweet and soft and pliant under the pressure of his, everything in the world ceased to exist except for the girl in his arms.

_I dare you to lift yourself off of the floor_

The kiss gaining fervor continued building passion as they went, stealing one another's breath.

_I dare you to move_

_I dare you to move like today never happened_

_Today never happened_

_Today never happened_

_Today never happened before_

As the music puffed out another track started, Aaliyah allowed her tongue to brush across his, drawing a small, smothered moan from him. Tilting her head back, she guided him to kiss away from her lips, down her jaw line and on to her neck with his hands running up the sides of her legs and resting on her waist.

However, he pulled away straining to hear the song playing just in case he heard it wrong.

_Because they sleep with a gun_

_And keep an eye on you son_

_So they can watch all the things that you do_

"Whoa whoa whoa.. What is that?" he asked raising an eye brow at her song choice and Allie merely chuckled as he leaned back up from their position on the bed.

"So much of being a music buff, Bradin," Aaliyah replied sitting up.

"Hey I could bore you to tears talking about music, but My Chemical Romance, emo rock, not music, just sound," he stated.

"You could never bore me," she cheekily answered trying to veer the conversation away with her choice of music but being unsuccessful.

"Oh, that's very sweet of you but you underestimate me, Miss Lennox-Montgomery, I-"

"Bradin, what are you doing?" she asked, cutting him off before he dived into a long and winding conversation on music and guitars and bases and drums and bands.

"Preparing to bore you with my take on-"

"I meant what are you doing? With us. Because I realize that you don't usually kill time with your girlfriends the way we do,"

"I.. don't," he responded truthfully, there was no point hiding his sexual history from her, though they'd never actually explored hers, Aaliyah knew about Sarah, and Callie and Erika, and she didn't seem to have a problem with it.

"It's been a month, and if I followed the principle of 2 weeks in high school being a decade then we've been dating for 2, and I'm not saying that things aren't good between us, because they are, it's just I'm just wondering with what raging hormones and all with in a teen boy, what are you doing? Cause I get this vibe that tells me you don't usually wait," And with that being said, she patiently waited for him to construct an answer, not knowing how difficult that was to him seeing that she was clad with just a large tee and nothing much else.

"You're right, I don't," he started saying.

"But 'If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got,'" he quoted an old saying, one of which he could have swore he heard Ava saying before, "And while what I got had its perks, I'm looking for something... different this time around,"

"Different?" she questioned

"Different," he repeated himself nodding.

"Okay," she replied smiling.

"Okay," he repeated, "So let me dissect this slowly, step by step okay, skeletons in the closet?" he probed, sinking into the bed next to her pulling her close as she took in a breathe and exhaled slowly, cuddling up in his arm under the sheets.

_The steady flash of the blue and red light illuminated the road. There was a scurry of movement around her but she hardly noticed it. Her ocean blue eyes staring straight ahead concentrating only on the sight before her. The sight that almost made her heart stop there and then._

_Glass sprayed across the road, pieces of metal scattered around the twisted wreck of what was left of 2 cars, streaks of crimson stained the small patch concrete before her, and a lone male figure laying above it. Laying lifeless, bloodless even looking at the amount of it on the ground._

_The EMT's scampered about with their kits and tools, checking for a pulse, finding it not to be there. Giving up and doing nothing looking at the amount of blood at the scene and the wreckage of what's left of the car. She wanted to scream for them to do something but all she could do was say 'No!' again and again as more tears only trickled down her cheek._

"Alls?" he called gazing into the faraway expression that flitted over her face. A familiar look crept back in place and her eyes focused back again, gazing back into his green eyes. She stared at the clock by her bed and the voice sounded in her ear as clear as a bell.

_"Time of Death, 1.42am-"_

Looking away from the clock and back at the boy next to her, she let out a breathe and declared the thing that had been festering away in her mind for most of the day, "My dad died 5 years ago right now,"

At those words, Bradin pulled her closer and kissed her at the top of her head whispering comforting words.

"Hey, it's fine now, he loved you, and you have me now.." he whispered as her tired mind and body drifted to sleep in his warm, strong and comforting embrace.

And it was a spur of a moment thing, something he had not expected to say but when the words were out, he realized that it was the right thing to say, and that it couldn't be any more true, and he said it again.

"I love you, Aaliyah,"

Curled up in his arms, feeling secure and contented, she hardly realized it that as she was falling asleep, she whispered back the given reply, the only right response, "I love you too, Bradin Westerly,"

And with that the they drifted to sleep in each others arms.

_A/N Yes I know, I know, that wasn't all that great and I'm sorry, I don't want to do this but I have to blame it on my lap top, it's gotten me in a terrible mood._

_Anyway, the song is by Switchfoot, I Dare You to Move, of which, I own neither._

_I do not hate MCR or their song, Teenager or any other of their songs, and I don't hate them, I apologize if you're insulted, there are just some typical guy's guys that I know that think the above stated, so I figured to incorporate it into Bradin, it seems like a good fit.. ._

_Anyway, if they're any grammatical errors and punctuation mistakes and confusion on the who says what, I'm sorry bout that too, my head's some kind of buzzing right now, and I don't want to re-read or re-write this right now, though if you tell me it's terrible I might do it later and if you'll let me know of the mistakes and errors, I'll correct them, okay, thank you, buh-bye.. Oh and yes, reviews, always welcome, Thanks, love ya, I'm gonna go lie in a ditch and die now.._


	24. Chapter 24

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Muahaha, I'm getting 2 chapters up at once, Don't you just love me? hee hee.. xD_

_Oh, just so you'd know, no BrAaliyah in this chapter.. and cause I really am that evil, I'm gonna leave you hanging at the end, just a warning.. Muahahaha.. dodges the rotten food being thrown._

_Drama ahead, sorry if it's a bit confusing though.. Drama's always confusing, remember that.. xD_

**Chemicals React.**

_The seagulls squawked above the waters and Playa Linda's harsh sun shone in a distance, a cool breeze swept in as Aaliyah walked down the boardwalk on her way home from her shift at Mona's with a smile on her face. Finals finally were over and done with, all she wanted to do now was enjoy the rest of her high school days as well as her days with Bradin. She didn't want to worry about the fact that they were literally going to be across the country from each other, heck, she didn't want to worry at all._

_"Aaliyah!" a voice called out her name and she stopped short on the spot. She knew that voice, she recognized that voice. It couldn't be, could it? Swirling around, she only a second to look before hearing a faint scream and an impact to her torso that she did not see coming._

_"Oh my god, it's really you! You left without even saying goodbye, and your mum didn't tell me anything useful, where have you been?" gushed the petite girl who hugged her so tight, she felt her ribs crushing._

_"Kati?! Hey," Allie replied out of habit to the as the girl with the brown hair complete with highlights and lowlights of sandy blonde - albeit a little longer than when they'd first met - let go of her and she felt like she could breathe again._

_"What are you doing here?" she asked without answering her part first still in shock, trying to absorb the sight before he. It was classic Kati, complete with a designer dress, designer heels, a designer tote bag and a 3hundred dollar blow dry hair._

_"Lillian didn't tell you?"_

_"Tell me what?" she asked again, confused._

_"Cot's gonna be here this year," _

_"Cot?"_

_"You know.. The grand ball.. And the whole coming out to society.. Doing our bit for charity.. Cotillion, remember?"_

_That was not a reply she'd expected and for once she seemed at a lost for words as her mind tried to digest not only the fact that her former best friend from New York was there in Playa Linda but also what her former best friend had just said._

"Aaliyah?" a voice called out her name, another voice that came as unexpectedly as the first. A voice she hoped she'd never hear, especially since she'd just smoothed things over with Kati, bending the truth about several matters, lying about why she left and never kept contact. What she didn't know wouldn't hurt her, Aaliyah thought, or so she thought.

"Chris," she replied, turning around to face him as her heart began to race at a hundred miles an hour. The restaurant was empty, she was alone to do the cleaning up as Johnny had left early for his date with Ava and Allie of course was glad to do anything to make sure that Johnny and his wife would be suspended in their honeymoon stage bliss.

"How did you know I was-" she asked the honey blonde good looking male who stood at the door of the restaurant in front of her.

"I heard Lillian talking about meeting you here, something to with getting you to go to the cotillion," he answered smoothly, as he always did. He was as good looking as ever, donned in a without a doubt designer shoes with a fitting blue shirt, long sleeved, round necked and black slacks to complete the neat clean cut look he always had.

"Oh.." she replied somewhat inadequately.

"You left so fast you left skid marks," he said trying to lighten up the situation.

"Yeah, it's just I.. You ever feel like you just want to get away from it all and just go back to a place where things make sense? That was kinda how I felt," she answered, feeling a strange need to explain herself as she did before with Kati. Running away was easy but she never knew that it would be this guilt-ridden when it caught up with her.

"So you came back to the place where things made sense for you," he completed.

"Yeah, sort off.. I just wanted to start over in a place where I knew who I was, as far away from that world as I could get, you know?"

"I know what you mean, our world, it's uhmm.. pretty crazy.." he said nodding.

"So I heard about you and Kati, you're escorting to cot too right?" she said trying to veer the conversation away from subjects she didn't want to talk about. And she figured talking about his right now girlfriend would be a pretty safe way to do it, but it did, however, have the very opposite effect that she'd been expecting to receive.

"Yea, after I got over the whole you jumped a plane and left, I figured I'd give it a go," he explained, hurt creeping in his voice as he smiled at her. Aaliyah felt her heart crush to pieces.

"Christian, I never meant to hurt you. Kati was my best friend and she was in love with you since kindergarten-"

"And I was in love with you since I saw you freshmen year. And when I finally did it junior year.." he left the sentence hanging, looking at her, they both knew what happened by heart. Allie hesitated, should she lie? Should she tell him the truth? Would he piece it together if she did tell him the truth? Would she get caught in a bigger web of lie if she didn't?

After a moments deliberation she allowed herself to say "I was in love with someone else,"

"So.. What? You used me to get to him? Whoever he was?" he asked, finally showing signs of irritation and annoyance.

He'd always been calm and collected throughout the years she knew him, never to cause a scene, never to flare up in rage, kind and understanding, and it killed her that she had hurt him when she left, he was not only a friend, but a companion, the only person who reached out to her when she felt so lost in the world of the rich, the person who took the time and courage to know her and make her feel fitted in.

"Chris, I never meant to hurt you, or Kati or, anyone else, I.. Things just went crazy.. And I'm sorry you're hurting-"

"You're sorry I'm hurting or you're sorry?" he asked not allowing her to finish the sentence.

Aaliyah looked away uncomfortably opening her mouth to say something but no words came and Christian did what he thought was best, turning around to leave, leaving Aaliyah with her thoughts on how she was going to fix it or prevent anything from breaking as the lies snowballed down the hill creating a deadly size and momentum.

It all started with that one lie and a rush of emotions, she didn't think and now it was back to bit her in the ass.

That was the very reason she ran away, she was too scared to face it so she ran away from it and now it ran to her, and she had no way out of it. What scared her the most was that it was going to, without a doubt, ruin the life she had built in Playa Linda, a life where no one knew why she ran off from Manhattan. As a matter of fact, exactly 2 people knew the truth; the other 2 knew half truths. The 2 who did know the truth would never tell and all Aaliyah could hope for was the lies she told would hold long enough that the half truths would never be pieced back together.

_A/N Oooh.. Whats secrets is this.? Told you I'm evil.. xD Oh, and press that little button.. You know you want to.._


	25. Chapter 25

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Okay, so my comp has not been a complete spaz lately which leads to.. pause for dramatic effect.. Another chapter.. Yay.. scattered clapping in the background.. Okay, I'll shut up and let you get to it.. _

**Chemicals React.**

Aaliyah sat on high stool downing her dozenth or so Vodka Cranberry at The Hilton's bar lounge, the only place she could think of going after Chris's little visit and Mona's. The bartender there had seen her the other day when she was 'collecting lost time' with Kati as she called it, Allie called it catching up and re-bonding and apologizing profusely for leaving without telling.

"Hmm.. And here I thought where you come from was different from New York," came a voice from behind as she sipped up the remnants of the fluid in her glass.

"Ugh.." she groaned as she saw the face of the voice, not that she needed one to go with the voice, she knew that voice like the back of her hand. She placed the glass down and ordering for another Vodka Cranberry, not like the bartender needed to be reminded, she had asked for him to keep the drinks coming when she first settled down onto the stool and he filled her up each time the ice in her glass grew lonely.

She clearly had not thought it through to well when she thought of drinking at the only bar that wouldn't check her, that if Kati was at the Hilton's so was the rest of the world who came from where she came from.

"Nice to know that Playa Linda's finest also serve minors," he said suavely sitting down on the empty stool next to her, ordering a drink as well.

"Well, seeing that you're also getting a drink, I guess they also serve pigs, Carter," she quipped to the dark brown haired male who settled next to her.

"Ah.. Love it when you talk dirty," the male named Carter replied with the same charming poise as he picked up his drink that had arrived.

"I thought you just loved when girls talked to you?" she asked but before he could reply however, she corrected herself "Oh wait, no, you love them more when they're not talking, I almost forgot,"

"Hmm.. I've missed you witty banter," he said taking a sip out of his glass.

"Didn't miss yours," she replied instantaneously "Do you have some sort of a system? You know when you scower bars for something that'll go to bed with you later at night? Cause, I'll need to avoid being in that zone,"

"Well, Liyah, I usually just look for the hottest prettiest girl in the room and sit next to her," he replied smoothly, "And lucky me, you fit both descriptions perfectly Liyah," he continued before setting his glass down, using the name he had taken to calling her, he was the only one who ever did. And perhaps it was because it sounded to perfectly normal rolling off his tongue or that the alcohol that had slipped into her system after the Vodka Cranberries, or maybe even the combination of both, she didn't seem to even notice he had called her that.

"Why'd you run away?" he questioned suddenly, voice serious and somewhat business like.

"Not going there with you Carter," she answered as suddenly as the question came, without looking at him, staring straight ahead, as though she didn't know the person sitting next to her at the bar.

"And where would you go with me?" he asked suggestively.

"Bite me," turning around to look at him, she snapped right back at him before taking another sip from her glass.

"Or better still, I'll get you a bite,"

Aaliyah removed her lips from the close to empty glass shaking her head, "Mmm mm.. No, I'm not going anywhere, least of all with you"

"Come on," he said standing up nodding his head toward the exit, "You've been drinking on an empty stomach,"

"You watching me, O' Connell?" she asked staring him down.

"I know you well enough to tell," he said airily stopping the bartender from taking Allie's glass again for a refill and dropped several large notes for him on the counter, a hefty sum enough for all of Allie's drinks that night and a large tip.

"I'm not going anywhere with you," she said stubbornly staying in her seat and picking up her glass with the remnants f her paid for drinks as the bartender collected his bills, watching the 2 guests apprehensively.

"Beat it," Carter snapped at him looking away from Allie for the first time and the bartender scurried away with Carter staring daggers into his back.

"That's the Carter we know, now isn't it? Smug.. Arrogant.. Rude," Allie said mockingly swirling the contents of the glass around with the swift movements of her wrist.

"Come on," was all he said as he turned back to look at her ignoring her scathing comment.

"I don't think so, Carter," she replied before turning her attention to the glass as she continued to swirl the clear reddish liquid.

"Either you let me get some food down your throat or you let me drive you home," he challenged, creating a win-win situation for himself.

"You must be a lot drunker than I am if you think I'm gonna let you drive me home," she shot back.

"And you must be a lot drunker than I thought if you think I'd let you drive home with nothing but alcohol sloshing around in your stomach," he quipped back not missing a beat, and Aaliyah looked up at him, the glass still in her hand, staring at him wordlessly, she couldn't lie even if she wanted too, but she wasn't going to back down, especially to him.

"Come on, let me buy you a waffle, a warm fat crunchy one with some maple syrup, some ice cream, you still love those, don't you?"

"Enough to know they're not on the dinner menu," she replied as he tempted her with food. The pang of hunger hit her stomach and made its way up to her head like a whirlwind.

"I'm well connected," he answered with his patented smirk and air of arrogance.

Allie drained the rest of her drink and got off the stool, a little unsteadily as the alcohol shot to her brain. He caught her arms in his only to have her push him away, to declare, "Only cause I'm hungry,"

Carter put his hands up in mock surrender and led her out of the bar.

"So come on, spill, you and this Bradin guy, I wanna know everything," Kati gushed. It had been a week since their untimely reunion and Aaliyah was putting in her lavish dress she allowed herself to splurge on in Kati's large suite.

"Kat, I've already told you everything," she laughed sitting down in front of the room's large dressing table and carried on to putting on the light make up she had planned.

Kati had offered for Aaliyah to take over her suite at the Hilton's to prepare for prom and due to the convenience and guilt, Allie reluctantly accepted.

Dressed in a navy blue blouse and a sweater over it with a black skirt that billowed just before her knee, Kati fussed over Aaliyah's long hair, one which cost her a hundred and fifty dollars for the hairdresser to pull her hair into low ponytail at the side of her head and leave some strands hang over her face in curls, but one which Kati insisted was the right thing to do.

"So.. You guys for real?" she probed deeper. That was one thing about Kati, she was always easy to warm up, even up to her best friend whom she hasn't spoken to or seen in the past year after running away without explaining. She may seem like a total ice-bitch, but the few people whom she trusted, she trusts completely, and Allie was one of the few. Even though Allie only came along a few years back, they became fast friends and Kati trusted her, relied on her even sometimes because she knew Allie was nothing like the other girls she hung around with.

"Pretty real, yeah, I guess," she said smiling.

"Well, I hear this Bradin guy is pretty.. Aggressive," Kati asked evasively yet to straight to the point and Allie chuckled. It felt so good to have back her girl best friend, Zac and Connor were great friends but there's nothing like girl company really, and JJ and Kirsten were pretty close to each other being best friends and all.

"Yea, I hear that too," Allie responded, "And he's been great, at everything we've done so far.."

"Everything..?" she probed deeper

"No, mom! We haven't done it, but feel free to ask any personal questions," Aaliyah replied jokingly as she stood up taking a step back to take a look at a full view.

"May I remind you that his is your very first real relationship?" Kati put forward and Allie looked down for a moment, under the pretenses of smoothing down the front of her dress, which was well, already crease free.

"People in relationships talk, Alls," Kati continued.

"We have talked and he wants to take things slow, says he doesn't want to screw things up," she replied looking up.

"Is it ever possible for guys to want to 'take things slow'?" Kati pondered aloud and Allie laughed. She missed the times with Kati, it had always been so comfortable and tensionless. They could just talk and talk and talk and laugh, it always felt so free and easy.

"Well, as long as you're not worried," she commented.

"I'm not, but I'm thinking he is, you know, his prior relationships have been all.. pretty chaotic," Allie explained as she sat back down in front of the mirror to do the rest of her make up. Kati got up from her bed and fiddled with Allie's hair a little bit.

"Oh, what happened between you and Carter the other day, you still haven't told me.." she whined all of a sudden, "Come on, what happened?"

"Well, he's still an ass, that's for starters," Aaliyah answered evasively and Kati chuckled.

"Nothing else happened?" she prodded, "You looked a little," she swung her head to the side and hung her mouth loose to give the whole stoning drunk look referring to her drunken state and this time Allie laughed.

"No, nothing else definitely happened," she answered chuckling as she brushed on a hint of blusher.

_Allie bit into the crunchy thick piece of waffle and sighed, "These are so good," as Carter placed several notes into the front pocket of the chef. _

_"Well, if you're looking for a way to thank me.." he smirked and Allie rolled her eyes, jumping off the pantry._

_"It's a waffle, Carter," she stated taking another bite of the toasted batter._

_Walking out of the kitchen with Allie holding a waffle to her mouth in one hand and a strawberry smoothie in a plastic cup in another, Carter had to mind both their steps as she care little for anything else but the waffle. Twice, she nearly fell over the small steps around the place and thrice she tripped on her own feet while heading out front._

_At that moment of course was when Kati had come down for a fix of her sweet tooth and spotted the two of them._

_"There's no way you're driving home like this, I've a suite upstairs you can-" he began but she cut him off._

_"I'm fine!" she insisted scrunching up the thick fabric of the napkin with her hands before wiping her mouth with it._

_"You're not going anywhere like this,"_

_"You're wrong cause I am, I'm going home," she remained adamant to her resolve._

_"Liyah," he said sternly taking hold of her arm._

_"Carter!" she said back, mimicking his tone._

_"No." she said firmly staring at him before shrugging off his arm and walked away as steadily as she could, hoping that his huge inflated ego would outweigh his concern for her to follow. And it seemed that it was, except it wasn't his pride that got in the way but weariness, so he let it pass and walked back up to the elevator headed for his suite._

_Deciding that Carter was probably right about her not being sober enough to drive, she left her car at the Hilton's parking lot, it wasn't that far off from home, she figured she could walk home right now, and walk back tomorrow to get it. Besides, she definitely could use the walk to sober up before she entered the house, knowing that Ava and Johnny would still be up seeing that it was almost 1 and she still wasn't home yet._

_It wasn't that long a walk so when she got home she still reeked of alcohol and was still a little tipsy, tripping over herself as she entered through the front door, but there was no one waiting up for her, something in which she was grateful for. Closing the door carefully, she turned around to see another figure coming at her stealthily._

_"Ah!" the tiny figure cried softly as she realized who it was._

_"Nikki?" she called._

_"Allie, hey, what are you doing back so late?" she asked in an abnormally high pitch._

_"What are you doing going out so late?" she asked back._

_"I.. I.. uh.. left my homework at Amber's," she stuttered, lying badly._

_"Nikki.." she warned._

_"Okay, I'm sneaking out to meet Cameron, keep your voice down," she whispered._

_"Nikki!" she repeated louder this time scoldingly._

_"Allie please..," she pleaded softly._

_"Why do you have a date so late?" she whispered playing along._

_"I.. We just.." she started again but stopped sniffing around before gasping, "You're drunk!"_

_"I am not!" Allie defended herself._

_"Well you smell like the floor of the brewery!" Nikki accused, changing the subject before adding in, "With a hint of second hand smoke!"_

_"Well you're sneaking out to lose it to Cameron!" Allie shot back and even in the dark she knew Nikki looked mortified at that moment._

_"I.. Like you haven't done with Bradin yet," Nikki replied defensively when she got back the ability of speech._

_"Actually honey.. I feel horrible to burst your bubble and all, but I haven't," Allie told the youngest female in the house._

_"What?" she asked loudly, shocked._

_"What, do you want to wake everyone or something?" Allie said quickly clamping her hand over Nikki's mouth. But Nikki ignored her, pulling Allie's hand away from her mouth so she could speak, "You haven't?"_

_"No." she said sternly._

_"Why?" Nikki asked, perplexed._

_"Not the point here," Allie replied, thinking that this was one conversation she should not be having with her boyfriend's younger sister, "The point here is that you are going to do it with your boyfriend, no, not even do it but lose it to your boyfriend,"_

_"Well I figure its better him than some stranger but I don't know that's just me," Nikki answered sarcastically._

_"Don't try to be funny, not at.." she glanced at her watch, "1 am in the morning when you're sneaking out to rendezvous with your boyfriend,"_

_Nikki glanced away guiltily. Allie's eyes adjusted better to the dark now and she saw that Nikki had a hint of make up on and that she was wearing a skin tight red sweater with a zipper down the front coupled off with jeans._

_"Nikki, I know I'm not your mother, and I also know that in my position right now," Allie said, referring to sneaking home in the middle of the night smelling like alcohol and smoke, "I'm in no place to lecture you on virtue or what's right, but maybe you wanna talk about this first, before you rush into anything?" she asked very soberly. Any excess alcohol had been shocked out of her system following the revelation._

_"Allie, I know you mean well, but all the other girls my age have already done it anyway and I-" she started saying before stopping herself._

_"That argument sounded a lot smarter in your head didn't it?" she asked._

_"Yeah.. But that's not it,"_

_"Then what is? I mean, I'm not an idiot, I do realize that all this time you've been spending together it wasn't spent just holding hands, but sex is a pretty big step," she questioned wondering what the best course of action here would be. Advising her against it? Advising her for it?_

_"I love Cameron," she started, very seriously, "And I know he loves me, and when I'm with him, it seems right,"_

_"I know the feeling Nik, but the thing is, you only get that one shot, and you may think that you have it all pegged out right now, but at fifteen nobody has it pegged out,"_

_"How old were you?" she asked._

_"Fifteen," she stated and Nikki gave her a look._

_"Contradictive, I know, but the point is, it's your choice, and think about it, are you absolutely one hundred percent sure that you're mature enough to handle it?"_

_"Was that what you asked yourself?"_

_"No, I was kinda drunk," Allie replied and Nikki laughed._

_"I'm serious,"_

_"Oh.."_

_"Well, not the absolutely intoxicated and can't tell her fingers from her toes drunk but you know, not entirely sober either.." she started but she caught herself, "But the point is, you're a smart girl Nikki, you know all the arguments, I just wanna make sure, are you sure this is the right thing to do? Sneaking out in the middle of the night and spending it doing it with your boyfriend for the first time.. where?"_

_"The Spanish Cove," Nikki answered._

_"Spending it in the.. What is it with that place?" Allie asked no one in particular in mid sentence remembering one conversation she had with Bradin as Nikki gave her another look._

_"But uhm.. It's just, think about it Nikki,"_

_"Allie, you're right, I am a smart girl, I do know all the arguments, and I did think about this, did you think I'd jump into something like this without thinking about it first?"_

_"Well.. I.."_

_"Didn't?" Nikki offered._

_"No, not exactly,"_

_"Well I'm not you Allie,"_

_"Ouch I take offense in that," she replied sardonically and Nikki chuckled._

_"You know what I mean,"_

_"I do and I'm just offering you my thoughts, and if you feel strongly about it, as you clearly do, I'm not gonna stop you,"_

_"Thanks," the young girl replied with a smile and headed the door._

_"Just.. He's not.. making you do this.. right?" Allie knew who Cameron was, she was in a big sister program for the children with broken families at the summer camp few years back, sort of almost like a peer assistance programme and he was her charge, but people do change she figured._

_"No! God no, we decided to do this, together.." she assured Allie._

_"Well, okay.. Be safe, alright?" she offered._

_"We will,"_

_"And don't worry bout getting back, I'll tell Ava you left early for the.. library.. with Cameron,"_

_"You rock, Allie,"_

_"Just don't.. get used to this,"_

_"I won't,"_

_"And 6 words of advice?"_

_"Hmm?" Nikki asked turning around as she already had her hand on the door knob._

_"Don't ever let Bradin find out," she said and Nikki laughed._

_"I'm serious.. Your brother.. He'd maul Cameron,"_

_"Words of advice taken deeply to heart, and if you don't mind, I'm kinda already late," Nikki said before rushing out the door slamming it shut quietly._

_Making her way to her room, as stealthy as a mouse, she showered, changed and dropped onto the bed, absolutely tired out. The moment her head hit the pillow, she'd sunken into deep sleep._

A soft thudding brought her back and she gazed into the mirror meeting Kati's eyes as she grinned.

"Your date's here," she chimed and Allie stole a glance at the mirror to check her reflection before headed toward the door.

"Hey," the boy or, more like man, at the door greeted her. Bradin looked stunned for a moment, chuckling nervously as his eyes swept over her. Allie had on a strapless dress; it was a princess cut that came up to just below her knees, flaring out not too much. It was brown sateen on the inside and black organza draped over it and she donned it with a pair of black strappy heels. Her hair twisted into a low pony tail on one side of her hair letting loose curls frame her face at the sides which was kept fresh with a hint of make up; blusher, eye liner, grey smoky eyes and lip gloss.

Bradin on the other hand had his blonde hair swept to one side as he did for the spring dance and he coupled an all black tux complete with a dark brown shirt underneath and a matching tie, which gave him just the hint of formalness but not overdoing it. He looked smart even with his right hand was hidden mysteriously behind him and Allie wondered what it was, they'd agreed no corsage, it was way antiquated.

"Hey," Aaliyah replied with a smile and found that it was not a corsage he was hiding but a single red rose as he held it out in front of her.

"Why, thank you kind sir," she said trying to act all posh and elegant taking the rose, not knowing that even when she didn't try she would have looked every bit of graceful and stylish anyway.

"Shall we then, madam?" Bradin asked mimicking her tone and choice of words offering his arm, and Allie took it laughing and left Kati's suite, trotting along the grand ballroom for Playa Linda's Senior Prom.

_A/N hello you favorite people of mine, again, okay, so yes, long long loooooooong one this time around, and if you're thinkng, what does this chapter have to spiffing do with the story?! You'd be right, the whole Nikki thing was just a filler.._

_Anyway, I know the 'dirty little secret' is not really given much elaboration at this point and I know you guys are dying to know by now, but repeat after me okay, 'ooooooooooooohmmm….' yes, that's it, and again, 'ooooooooooooohmmm….'… Feels much better init? Good.. _

_Now, now, don't worry, the secret will all unravel soon!_

_You know the drill, Review please, thanks you! Till the next chaps, I'm out!_

_xOxO mAnomaly._


	26. Chapter 26

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N__ ShiaLover09 : Hey, thanks for the review, and no, I didn't plan on it but now that you mentioned it, it does seem a lot alike, Yikes.! I guess the show seeped into my brain a lot better than I thought.. ._

_Anyway.. It's not really a crossover but yea Allie's side is a lot like the show I suppose, but just to clear it up, it wasn't modeled after the show, nor is it a crossover, the storyline was kinda formed in my head before the show started, though Charles 'Chuck' Bass and Nathaniel 'Nate' Archibald would make a good portrayal of Carter and Christian if you need any help constructing an image of them._

_Okay AND special thanks to aciodanrad9 and 6Ellie6 too for reviewing.. Love you guys!!_

_And I'm so sorry to do this to all of you but Prom's just gonna be a flashback in the next chapter, and just a forewarning, not much BrAaliyah in this chap, thought I should get that out before starting to dodge the rotten vegetables and fruits being hurled my way. xD_

_Kk, without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Chapter 26!_

**Chemicals React.**

"Gramma, do you know where my black pumps are?" Aaliyah yelled. Her voice would have echoed in the massive penthouse suite if not for the carpeting and the lush furniture.

"I can't find anything in here," she whined digging through the piles of boxes stacked up in the room that looked alarmingly small with all the boxes.

"Well, it would have helped if you unpacked, you're home now," said the woman with the wispy grey hair standing in the doorframe, staying out of the ay of the boxes and the girl scrambling around in the room looking through the piles of things stacked up.

"This isn't home, this is a hotel room, stuffed with stuff that you shipped in from New York for me, most of which I've never even seen before, home is that place by the beach, the house where I've spent the past year," Allie replied.

"Well, good thing I did bring in all of these for you or you'd be walking around in those limited choice of what you call clothing which is bad enough to start with but in awfully last season colors,"

"Gramma, I'm doing all of it, okay, the fundraiser, the brunch, cotillion, the whole deal, I'm even staying here with you now, what more do you want?" she asked frustrated sitting onto the bed, sinking into the fluffy comforters as her grandmother fished out a small shoe box and passed it to her.

"I just want you to start living your life, the life you deserve, and that dingy little place by the beach is hardly a proper home," she commented disapprovingly.

"I am living my life, I was living my life fine before you brought the cotillion to me," she complained pulling out the black heels from the shoe box and putting them on. Her grandmother had managed to persuade her to stay at the hotel with her for the duration for the preparation of the fundraising carnival, the brunch and ultimately the cotillion as well.

"Do I have to remind you that I got into Brown just fine? And it's still my intention of attending??"

"Yes, and I'm very proud of you, but all I need you to do now, is attend the fundraiser meeting and remind everybody that you are my granddaughter and you're capable of coming up with brilliant ideas for the execution and planning of it,"

"Fine, I'm ready, we can go now," she said, picking up 'her' LV bag and notebook before standing up.

"Okay, this meeting will be called to order," Lillian, Allie's grandmother said authoritatively to the young ladies and not so young ladies present around the small conference room.

"First thing on the agenda, the fundraiser, do we have any ideas?" she continued as the chatter settled down and everyone sat down, pulling out their pens and notebooks.

"Well, I was thinking this is California, and it may be spring but things are always warm here so why we do something fun this year, like a carnival?" Kati suggested. She looked all serious like, with a button down blouse and pencil cut skirt, she'd never met with a style that she didn't just absolutely adore and she took the whole meeting business very seriously.

"Oh.. I'm not sure that's quiet our style," Lillian voiced reluctantly and that sparked a slight babble amongst the girls and many a small nods of approval going around the table.

"If I may offer an opinion on the subject?" Aaliyah asked before the suggestion was turned down entirely and everyone hushed down, turning to look at her, "I mean, we seem to be going in the direction of doing things differently this year right, we're here and not in New York, why not go all out? The beach is a public place, we can hold it there, don't have worry about rental, and anybody can come, that could potentially draw a big crowd, they could buy the tokens if they wanted to participate in any of the games or activities, I think it's worth pursuing," she offered and her grandmother gave it a thought.

"Well, you make a good argument, are there any objections?" she asked and there was none, so the discussion was brought to other matters, the games and stalls, the people in charge and their responsibilities, and so forth.

"A kissing booth you say, Katiah?" Lillian asked, repeating what Kati had said.

"Yes, it's very profitable, we don't have to worry about labor, or props and appliances needed, just us girls to do our part for charity," she continued.

"I'm not quiet sure that would fit into the good graces the cotillion is meant to instill," Lillian said reluctantly, and Kati bit her lip.

"Oh, come on Gramma, it's for charity, and besides, you used your graces in a bit, now have you?" Aaliyah joked and drew laughter from everyone, well almost everyone.

"Oh, alright, what the heck," she finally agreed, "Anything else?" she asked.

"Well, there's a parking lot, I guess we could also have a car wash?" Allie suggested much to the other girl's dismay.

"A car wash?" Kati voiced repeating what Allie had said, sounding disgusted.

"Yea, I'm sure the people who'll be coming have cars and they'll be more than happy do have them washed, especially for charity, and it's usually very profitable as well, water's cheap, shampoo's cheap, and we don't have to pay for labor," she supported her idea with the facts.

"Very well then, we'll add that to our list, you'll be in charge of that one too then Allie?" her grandmother asked, giving her approval and Kati's facial expression changed from disgusted to horror struck as she looked from Lillian to Aaliyah.

"Anything else? No? I guess that concludes the meeting for today thank you ladies for your time," Lillian concluded the meeting graciously, standing up and clapping her hands.

"Good job, nice to have you back, Aaliyah," a lady said offering a comment to Allie as she kept her things. She received several other similar comments and pats on the backs from other girls.

Kati snapped her book shut and stood up keeping her pen into her bag looking disgruntled and walked out of the meeting room.

"Kat, hey, wait up, where's wrong?" Allie asked, chasing after her friend. Kati turned around and glared at her.

"You really want to know?" she asked, "Backing me up on the carnival? And the kissing booth?" she spat, "And all the idea's and opinions? What the hell was that about, Allie?"

"I was just trying to help,"

"I'm lead deb., I don't need your help,"

"Kati!" Allie said sternly as she turned to leave again, grabbing her elbow, "I'm not trying to take lead deb away from you, I'm just trying to help you out and Lilian, it's her last year hosting this, it's a big thing for her, it's a big thing for you, I know that, and I'm not trying to take it from you,"

Kati's expression softened and she gave a sigh, "I know, I suck.. I'm sorry," she apologized, "It's just things are a bit wobbly between Chris and I and I just snapped, okay I'm sorry,"

"Don't worry bout it," she said, concerned of the fact that things were 'wobbly' between her best friend and her boyfriend, "We all have one of those days," Allie offered some comfort wrapping her arms around her best friend, giving her a hug, "Come on, we'll go do that tried and tested by women of all the ages method of getting yourself to feel better," she suggested.

"And what's that?" Kati asked when she pulled away.

"Gorge on cake," Allie replied as he best friend laughed and they walked towards the café.

"Car wash?" Bradin asked as he looked over his girlfriend's shoulder in his living room, most of the furniture was pushed aside and Aaliyah was on the floor, on her belly painting the big sign for the fundraising carnival only days away. "I don't know bout you, but I didn't think those girls from your old shi shi prep school are the kind who'd get their nails dirty,"

"You're right, they're not," she replied finishing up the last alphabet before getting up and placing her arms around his neck as he looped his arms around her waist. It was impossible to work on the sign under her grandmother's critical nose nor the carpet of the hotel room, and she was glad to have the excuse to be out of the hotel room and her grandmother's company.

"I take it you're the one to suggest it then?" Bradin asked.

"You take it right," she said before planting a kiss on his lips.

"So tell me more about this cotillion thing," he asked when she pulled away.

"The one where you're supposed to be escorting me to?" she asked.

"No the other one, I have like 10 high society balls lined up," he replied sarcastically as she removed her arms from his neck and walked to the kitchen to pull out a tub of ice cream from the fridge.

"Well, it's pretty complicated but I'll try to put this in terms as simple as possible, alright? I put on a nice pretty dress, you put on a tux, and we walk down a flight of stairs," she teased, digging into the tub of ice-cream.

"Wow, that does sound pretty complicated, I guess you'll have to walk me through step by step, I mean I could screw that up, you put your foot in front of the other and repeat moving forward right?" he played along and Allie chuckled puling the spoon out of her mouth digging up another mouthful of ice-cream and shoving it in his mouth as he leaned over the counter.

_A/N Yep, that's pretty much it, a pretty short one with little Bradin Allie interaction but you'll get the prom flashback in the next one and more drama, so hang in there.._

_And yes Omg I realized the opening seemed very Gossip Girl too, yikes! . Need to stop it.!!_

_Oh and of course, Reviews are loved and adored as you are my fellow readers! Thank you!! _


	27. Chapter 27

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N JustTheGirl07: Wow! Thanks for the grand compliment.. And for reviewing of course. Glad you love it, yeah, I get what you mean with the busy with life thing, life has a way of getting in the way innit? haha.. Anyway, don't worry, with the long break ahead, it'll be at most a week cooling period before I start the sequel.. Which in all honestly is not all that long right? _

_Thanks 6Ellie6 and ShiaLover09 again for reviewing.. You guys rock! Author to author love man.. xD_

**Chemicals React.**

Aaliyah had her eyes open the entire time, though she squinted from the pressure of his lips on hers, she could practically taste the mint he had been sucking on, but she figured, at least he had the decency to take mint, though the same thoughtfulness could not be said about his kissing technique. She hoped the kiss would end soon and thanked her lucky stars that at any rate he didn't try to tongue her.

She'd been getting a lot of them horny little teens who intended to get their full 2 dollars of coupon's worth, but she'd been successful at keeping them randy buggers in check. It was the fundraising carnival and Aaliyah almost regretted backing up Kati's idea of the kissing booth, Playa Linda seemed to have a lot of desperado's and sadly none of them very good at kissing. She had to remind herself, countless times, that it was all for a good cause.

Beep! Went the little timer and she pulled away. She had pulled on a black strapless blouse hugging her chest and flaring out under the bust which reached her thighs over her denim shorts after the car wash to look decent for her shift at the kissing both. And apparently she did look decent enough for the males of Playa Linda as the line had begun to build at a fanatical rate as evening approached.

"Thank you," she said with a nice little pin up smile worthy of a Miss USA, "Next!" she called out to the line before her, exhaling and checking her watch that she didn't notice the blonde who now stood over her at the booth.

"Hey, so I've never really done this before, what's the protocol here?" he asked and Allie looked up to meet the eyes of one Bradin Westerly.

"Well, You do seem like the kind who doesn't play for kisses," she replied teasing him in a serious tone of voice.

"Yea," he replied chuckling shyly as he pushed his coupon into the jar on the table. Never in his entire life had he thought he'd be paying to be kissed, by his girlfriend nonetheless, "Then I figured heck, it IS for charity," he said nobly.

"Dude, you're paying for it, you don't have to flirt with her first you know!" called a clearly disgruntled waiting customer from behind.

"Stuff it! She's my girlfriend jackwad!" Bradin called over his shoulder as Allie chuckled.

"Well then, I guess we should get to it," he said suggestively as he sat down facing her across the little table, "You clearly have many suitors waiting,"

"More like frogs," she mused aloud.

"Good thing your prince is already here then," he replied pompously.

"Oh shut up and just kiss me already,"

And that he did, leaning over the table, he covered the small distance between them, letting their lips meet tentatively and hungrily, despite the long queue waiting behind for their turn. Aaliyah leaned into his kiss, placing her hand onto his neck, pulling him closer, his tongue slid across her bottom lip, and she opened her mouth, allowing him to deepen the kiss. Their tongues battled in an erotic duel, one that would not end swiftly, despite the crowd getting restless behind them.

_It felt so right. The way that they kissed, the way her hand intertwined behind his neck, the way his hands ran through her hair that had begun to unravel after a night full of dancing, it felt perfect. Like it was meant to be like that. Like he was never meant to kiss anyone else his entire life._

_Of course that one perfect moment had to be interrupted as the band began playing an upbeat number with loud baselines and thumping drums and they both pulled apart, laughing, and Bradin swung her out before pulling her close lifting her up as she laughed some more. And there danced a bit more fast music before Bradin announced he was going to get some drinks. She wandered back to their table to be greeted by someone else._

_"Hey!" called a familiar voice._

_"Hey," she replied automatically greeting her best friend Zac._

_"So.?" he asked gauging a reaction._

_"So.?" she answered._

_"You okay?" he asked frankly, deciding to go straight to the point. The few of them shared a table for prom and Zac had been cryptic for weeks, about who he was seeing and who he was bringing to prom, so of course, Aaliyah was shocked to find out it was none other than her old sparring partner Vanessa. Zac had insisted that she was not that bad a person when you got to know her, yea, she every bit of the doe-eyed limelight sucking drama queen packed into a bag of girlish evil but apparently there was more than met the eye. Halfway through dinner however, she had 'accidentally' spilled her punch onto Allie, but lucky for Aaliyah, she just ran up to borrow another dress from Kati, much to Vanessa's dismay of course._

_"Compared to your girlfriend when I'm done with her? Fan-friggin-tastic," she said _

_"Come on, I like her, retract claws, Allie,"_

_"Claws? What claws," she said feigning innocence, turning over her hands in front of his face with a small smile._

_"Hey, she felt horrible about it,"_

_"If by horrible you mean enjoying the fruits of her evil labor, sure, yea, I believe you, and you know what, I hope your girlfriend got one heck of a kick out of it, cause it'll be the only thrill she'll be feeling in a while,"_

_"What? What are you talking about?"_

_"Notice anything different now as compared to earlier?" she asked, gesturing down her body to indicate the different dress she had on. Instead of the strapless black dress she had on which she spent a large part of her allowance on, now she had an empire-waisted dark blue dress, not like it was the dress was the actual issue there._

_"Allie, I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose," he explained on his date's behalf._

_"I'm sure she didn't," Allie replied sarcastically, "It's time to pick a side Zac, you cannot date Vanessa and expect things to be okay between us,"_

_"Allie, look, even if she did do it on purpose, which I'm sure she didn't, I'm asking you to let it go, okay? Maybe she just wanted to get back at you for the black eye or something, I mean ,come on, you're plotting something right now, and I'm asking you, just let it go,"_

_"You know I can't do that,"_

_"Why not?" Zac asked, exasperated._

_"Because you know how I feel about her and.. because she's kissing my boyfriend right now!" Aaliyah said angrily, pushing past Zac and making her way across the dance floor where Vanessa was practically throwing herself against Bradin, forcing her lips onto his. Bradin was keeping her at arms length and just succeeding in pushing her away when Aaliyah clamped onto her shoulder and shoved Vanessa._

_"You wanna screw with me, fine! But if you think that you can charm my best friend just to break his heart like this to get at me, you have grossly underestimated me Vanessa Marie," she announced to the 5'8'' blonde._

_"How many guys do you expect to want only you Aaliyah?" she asked tipsily tripping on her high heels a slight bit._

_"Zac doesn't want you, get over it," she continued, Allie was sure she could smell the vodka in her breath; someone clearly had one too many punches for the night._

_"No, he wants you and I really did want to believe what he said about you, that there was more to you than this skank and evil plotting whore, but I guess he was wrong!"_

_Out of the corner of her eye, Aaliyah saw the familiar almost six footer's back being turned on the scene unfolding and she turned to see it was Zac making his way through the crowded dance floor toward the exit, "Dammit," she muttered, going after him but losing him in the crowd. She stood on the spot and exhaled before she felt someone behind her place a hand on her shoulder._

_"Hey, he's a big boy, he'll be alright,"_

The timer beeped phenomenally, louder and louder till it could not be ignored. Pulling away Bradin chuckled, "I think I got my 2 dollars worth,"

"No, I think you still have a bit of it left over," Aaliyah replied before pulling him close again.

_Allie felt a drop of water hit the top of her head. She stopped short, and then another drop came striking her cheek and she looked up for another rain drop to hit her in the face, her forehead this time._

_Mortified, she covered her head with her hand and called out to Bradin who didn't stop walking when she did, "It's raining! It's.. It's freaking raining!" and Bradin chuckled, laughing at her reaction._

_They were walking home, a couple in formal clothing, trudging home from a hotel, it was that long of a walk but they figured a good walk would compensate for the drama and excitement during prom. Needless to say, the night did not go so perfectly, but after the whole Zac and Vanessa thing, the night went by without much great incident, up until that moment of course._

_"This isn't funny! This is.. This is an abomination, it's.. It's Playa Linda, it's California, it's never supposed to rain here.. Ever, if I wanted rain I'd have stayed in New York, this is.. This is a plot.. An evil evil Eviiiiiil plot!" Aaliyah ranted as Bradin laughed on and the drizzle got a slight bit heavier._

_"Yeah, you standing there ranting would make the rain go away, sort of an anti-rain dance huh?" he teased._

_"Oh, blah.." she whined swinging her purse at him. Dodging it he took of the coat he had on and placed it over both their heads as they made a mad dash back to the beach house._

_By the time they made it, they were both laughing and giggling that they felt they found a miracle that they didn't wake the entire house. But then again, the rain grew merciless by then and all that could be heard was the steady plop plop on the rooftops. _

_"Lets get some towels before we both get pneumonia or something," Bradin whispered to Aaliyah and the amused couple went ahead to his room to look for them towels._

_Careful not to shut the door too heavily, waking the other inhabitants of the house, she brought the door to the frame cautiously. Just as her hand let go of the knob, Bradin tossed her a towel and she tried to pat dry her hair which was slightly loosened from the do she had paid for earlier that day, glad that at least one thing survived the wild night, her black dress, clearly did not._

_Bradin tossed his soaking coat to the floor and rubbed his damp hair dry before proceeding to unbutton his shirt, abandoning that on the floor too._

_"Gosh, you are such a slob," Allie called out to him tossing her towel at him, which he deftly caught._

_"What can I say? I'm a man's man," he said complacently with a smug look on his face as she picked up his damp clothing and made her way to the bathroom, dumping the clothing in the basket. Just as she turned around however Bradin stood behind her and they just stood there for a moment looking at each other and she made no move to stop him when he leaned over for a kiss, as a matter of fact, she couldn't have stopped him even if she tried, instead she covered the space between them, leaning forward to his lips, with her hands placed on his either sides of his cheek._

_He didn't know what to think, what to do, what to __feel__. Only that it felt right, he wanted the kiss to last as long as possible, he raised his hand, tangling it in her hair, pulling her closer. She bit his lower lip, driving him crazy, her arms looped around his neck, and his hands moved down her back before stopping at the hips. He only broke the kiss to trail his lips down her neck, pressing against her pulse point, causing her to lean her head back in unabashed ecstasy before moving back up to cover her lips with his again._

_Backing their way into the room, Bradin's hands slid back up her back and undid the zipper of her dress. His hands pushed the soft fabric off her shoulders and dress fell to the ground with a flump. Allie pushed him backward, stepping over her abandoned garment on the floor and they proceeded to fall over onto the bed, Allie atop of him, pressing up against his body in all the right places._

_In a smooth swift motion, he spun her over for him to take the top, their lips not once breaking the passionate kiss, her lithe legs coiled around him._

_His hands caressed her shapely legs, brushing against the lacy boy shorts she had on. His finger, more of a reaction than anything tugged at it and Allie's hands moved to his belt buckle causing him to stop and pull back._

_"Are you sure?" he asked, voice hoarse, lips slightly bruised from all the kissing._

_Her only reaction was to lift up her head and kiss him on the lips and it was more than an answer enough for him._

"Come on man, that's way more than 2 dollars!"

Fishing out some more coupons from his back pocket he pushed them into the jar, but not without groans from the queue, in response to that, he pulled his fingers out of the jar and shoved the middle one at them.

Of course at this exact moment, one Lillian Lennox not far away heard the commotion and turned to see her granddaughter engaged in a heavy make out session over at the kissing booth, with one regular looking surfer boy from Playa Linda and needless to say, she did not like that, she did not like it one bit, and she intended to do something about it.

_A/N Dun dun dun.. What is she going to do? haha, this one's long enough, but don't worry, it'll be in the next one.. which should be coming soon if my computer doesn't act like a total spaz.. Meh.. ._

_And omg, I just realized, I coupled up a Zac and Vanessa, haha!! Totally unintentional, but anyway, hope this one was long enough and good enough to compensate my lack of updates.. And no, I wasn't about to attempt a sex scene, get your mind off the gutter man.! xD_


	28. Chapter 28

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Late yes, I know, but life's a bitch, friends leave, other friend wanna do stuff, places to be, things to do, and musses go on strike, yes, well, it's not exactly a writers block, I know exactly what's gonna happen and how, like I said, I have it plotted out, it's the construction of it that's proving to be a little bit of a problem._

_At any rate, I've been pretty busy lately and couple that up with my lap top being a total spaz, you get late updates, sigh.. Okay, Really late updates.. Anyway.._

_JustTheGirl07 : 'they kissed.. and did it' haha, I like that. Anyway, thanks! I was a little bit worried and unsure on how exactly to write it, but it's good to know it worked out okay.! _

_6Ellie6 : Haha, yea it was, well, what can I say, I'm a sucker for cute quotes.. Sorry this ones a bit late.. Anyway, I think this one will answer your question regarding grandma. _

_ShiaLover09 : Haha, I know.. I was going for cute without being too annoying you know, I didn't want them to be one of those super sickeningly mushy couples that give each other like teddy bears and mesh notes.. Anyhow, glad you liked it.. Thanks!_

_acciodanrad9: Thanks for consecutively reviewing every chapter, appreciate it.. _

_wwegurl4ever77: Thanks, glad you like it.._

_Chapter 28 ladies and gentlemen.. and the drama ensues.. dun dun dun.._

_Enjoy! _

**Chemicals React.**

Scattered laughter ensued from the small penthouse suite as Bradin entered the vast room. Tall ladies in semi-formal dresses and blouses and skirts were littered around the room with glasses in their hands talking, laughing, as were dressed up males with designer shoes and slacks and button down shirts with their thousand dollar watches. There were here and there waiters and waitresses bussing trays with finger food.

Aaliyah had told him to pick her up from there, at the post fundraiser cocktail party, and they were headed out for a movie. He immediately felt out of place in the suite amongst the crowd of stuck up kids living on a trust fund, feeling incredibly uncomfortable in his long sleeved tee shirt and jeans.

"Oh, you're finally here, yay!" Allie squealed excitedly, pelting over to hug him. She had on a long sleeved button down white shirt with a long sleeved half sweater over it, the collars just sticking out of the dark brown round neck fabric above it. She coupled it off with skinny jeans that call attention to her long legs. Her hair was let down and she had just a hint make up on yet she still looked like some supermodel, Bradin guiltily wondered if he should have worn something nicer.

"Yeah, I am," he replied with a smile nonetheless, "You people like to overdo everything don't you?" he commented on the attire and set up of the place.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh, "Them New Yorkers haven't heard of them thing called simple," she agreed looking round the room, "But then again, they'd find any reason for an open bar, drown in éclairs and discuss their stay at the Burj al-Arab or the Ice Hotel," and Bradin chuckled at that.

"Okay, just stay here for a sec, I'm gonna go grab my purse, and we are out of here," she muttered cunningly, rubbing her hands together.

"So that's the master plan? " he teased, "You get your purse and we infiltrate out of this throng of designer clothes and five hundred dollar blow dry hairs?"

"Devious huh? Saw it in a James Bond movie, thought we could give it a shot," she said playing along as she walked backward away from him towards her room.

She was gone only for a second when a waiter offered him a glass of Chardonnay, he awkwardly turned down the drink, scanning the room which he had found several people throw him weird looks, and then a voice greeted him from behind, "Lost?"

"Uh, no, I'm uh.. Waiting for someone," he replied turning around to see one wispy grey haired woman with a tall stemmed glass in her hand, holding the clear liquid within steadily.

"My granddaughter Aaliyah, I know, but I wasn't referring to that," she said pleasantly with a smile on her face. Was it just him or was that a glimmer of false sincerity in her eyes?

"You must feel lost in situations like this," she continued before he could say anything, "Growing up on a farm in Kansas, recently moving out here, I'm sure you haven't had much exposure to such formal societies,"

"No, you're right I have not, but our prom was pretty formal," he spontaneously quipped in an attempt at a joke, her reaction however changed from pleasant to distasteful.

"I'll drop the charade Bradin," she replied, "You and my granddaughter are from very different worlds, and I suggest you stay away from things that you'll never be part of," her words were so cold that if they dripped icicles would have formed.

"You will not be escorting Aaliyah to the cotillion, because there is no sense being presented if it's done indecently, and you.. are an indecent choice of an escort,"

"With due respect, you can't tell us what to do, and Allie is the one who wants me to escort, and I'm sure that she thinks that I'm a pretty damned decent choice of an escort," he said back pleasantly, not loosing his cool though this old lady was really getting on his nerves.

"Alright, what is it that you want?" she asked, setting down her glass on a passing by waiter's tray.

"Nothing," he responded, wondering where this old lady was getting at.

"I'm going to write you a cheque, Bradin," she said, pulling out a pen and a small booklet, "It's Westerly isn't it? How do you spell that?"

And all Bradin could do was stare back blankly at the old lady,

"That's alright, you can fill that out yourself, I'm going to write this as a cash out, you can fill in the numbers yourself too," she said airily tearing the sheet of paper from the booklet.

"I don't want your money, Mrs. Lennox," he said plainly, finally understanding her intentions. Did she really think that he was someone that could be bought?

"Think of what this money could mean to you Bradin, to your brother and sister, to you're aunt, your sister's smart, she'll probably get a scholarship, but the same can't be said to you don't you think? You have your education to think about Bradin, and your youngest brother, you don't want to put that all on your aunt now do you?"

"And as I understand you plan to study medicine? That can't be an economical route to take," she went on holding the slip of paper in front of him. He took it and a triumphant look crossed her face but only for a moment as he tore it to two and handed it back to her.

"Like I said, I don't want your money,"

"You know, the awkwardness, it never goes away," she said with a hint of sympathy in her voice as he turned around to walk away, "And no matter how hard you try, they'll always be speaking a foreign language to you," he turned back around to face her, wanting to come up with a snappy comeback, but none came.

"You may be in love, but dear boy, do you honestly think that'll be enough?"

"She belongs here.. You don't,"

"Hey," Allie came from behind and silence fell over them like an invisible blanket. Bradin contemplated for a moment, letting the silence hang over the air like a blanket. Should he tell her that her grandmother was an evil spawn of the Devil who just tried to tempt him with a blank cheque? Should he bust the fake niceness of Lillian Lennox in front of Allie now or just let it slide?

"What, you guys still planning my surprise party?" she asked jokingly eyeing both of them.

"Nope, just discussing what PG movies I could take you too," he replied and Allie chuckled.

"I'll be back late, okay, don't wait up," she said to her grandmother giving her a peck on the cheek.

"It was nice talking to you Mrs. Lennox," he said politely as they both headed the door, leaving Lillian Lennox standing alone. She eyed them as they left and gave a smile and a wave when Allie waved before leaving the suite and her smile faltered when the door closed behind them.


	29. Chapter 29

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Yup, two in a row, to make up for my recent inactivity of updating.._

_Oh and I just realized I could enable anonymous reviewing thing so now anyone can review, which is a little bit dense of me seeing as this is already reaching the end of my story, but anyway, I have the next few ones planned out, so if all goes well, Finale will be chapter 33, 5 more to go.. gasps!! So close to the end already… Nuuuuu………_

_Okay, enough enough.. Chapter 29, here it is.. And just a heads up, this is a pretty long one ahead, and you guys will pretty much wanna kill me at the end of it, I so know you will.. You can already guess what's gonna happen can't you.?_

**Chemicals React.**

"Hey!" Aaliyah chipped when she entered her best girl friend's hotel room flopping onto her bed. "So we ready for a little Cotillion brunch? Come on, tell me how excited you are, tell me bout your dress, and your shoes and your statement, I mean the big ball is tomorrow night, and you've been going on and on and on on this since we met, so come on, get it out of your system, you know want to," she prompted.

When she got no reply from her friend sitting on the edge of the bed in one of her many lavish cocktail dresses, this one was an off white number with a black ribbon under the bust and to just below her knee. Allie had donned on something less conventional, much to her grandmother's distress, teaming up a flowing black silk top that slid off one shoulder with a pair of low slung skinny jeans and black pumps. And of course with her grandmother's insistence she had over her arm a white some-shi-shi-brand bag.

Sensing no reply, she got off the bed and sat next to Kati at the edge of the bed "Hey, you okay?" Allie asked seeing her tear streaked face, eyes unfocused and the slid slightly red and swollen.

* * *

"Hey, what's on your mind?" came a voice from behind.

"Huh?" was Aaliyah's only reply as she turned around to see her boyfriend as her eyes swept across the room for a certain someone across the lavishly decorated ballroom. "Just fine European automobiles," she said giving him a coy smile.

"And since when do you think about fine European automobiles?" he asked cocking an eyebrow and Allie chuckled.

"Since about when I began being able to afford them," she replied teasingly, "It's been a very confusing time, you know, with model and color and engine power and drag to consider,"

Bradin chuckled, "Well, I have to admit, this guy won't be much help,"

"Aww.. That's too bad," she said pouting and he laughed some more. At that moment she spotted a certain blonde haired boy headed toward the exit at the back of the ballroom, pushing open the heavy set doors.

"Hey, I've something to take care of, I'll just be a sec, okay," she said distractedly with her eyes still focused on the door and she slid away from Bradin, trailing the blonde haired guy out of the room, pushing past, the small mass of people already collected there.

"Allie, hey we need to talk," the familiar voice of Christian Van der Graf said to her as she entered the hallway, pulling at her arm.

"Yea, we do, you broke up with Kati? A day before cotillion? You idiot! You know how big a deal this is for her, she's been going on and on about this whole coming out to society thing since forever, what the hell are you thinking?" Aaliyah scolded the tall blonde male in front of her in the deserted hallway without pausing to breath between sentences.

"You! I was thinking of you! You're the only thing that's been on my mind since I saw you again, the way I feel about you, and our relationship before you took off,"

"Chris, our relationship was exactly 3 dates and one very drunken night,"

"Allie-" he started but Allie cut him off.

"Emphasis on words 'very' and 'drunken' Chris!" she said before he could get another word out.

"Maybe for you but I wasn't okay? I knew exactly what was going on when I slept with you that night," he said and Allie closed her eyes exhaling.

"Chris please okay, I'm with Bradin now and you're with.." but this time she was cut off.

"Kati!"

"Yes, you're with Kati!" she said glad that they were on the same page, not knowing that he was greeting the girl behind her instead of just saying her name.

"You slept with him?" a timid voice came from behind her and Aaliyah turned around to see her best friend, hurt, disappointed and above all, shocked.

"No! I mean, yes I did, but I.. Oh my god my head hurts.. is that Merlot?" she tried to explain but none followed so she just babbled on clutching her head with one hand and grabbing the glass of wine in Kati's hands with the other and downing in it one swift movement.

As if things weren't bad enough with both Chris and Kati there staring at her, Bradin came out of the heavy set doors to find them there, "Hey, there you are, you just disappeared like tha- Whoa thirsty are we?" he asked, changing in mid-sentence as he watched his girlfriend guzzle down the glass of red wine.

"So let me get this straight Allie, while you were in love Carter-" Kati started saying and at those words Chris turned to Allie.

"Carter?" he asked dumbstruck.

"You dated Chris and slept with him?" Kati ploughed on, "Allie! You said nothing happened!" she asked voicing her outrage and Allie just closed her eyes and exhaled before opening her eyes to stare at her feet, lost of what to say or do.

"Okay.. What is.." Bradin began to ask awkwardly, his voice trailing off as he sensed the hostility in the air as she tried to explain, stumbling over the words, her mind somehow at this moment not phrasing complete sentences it was buzzing so fast.

"Kati, it was at the party.. I was.. We were.. I just had too much.. and I.." she stammered uneasily, unable to keep eye contact for very long closing her eyes here and there, looking away occasionally.

"Some mixer we have out here," another voice drawled in from behind them, cutting through Allie's stumbling explanation.

"Oh, great, just what this situation needs to complicate things further, one Carter O'Connell," Kati stated turning to look at him.

"Did you.. Man, did you sleep with her?" Chris confronted his best friend not so articulately as Allie covered her head with her hands.

"You told them?" he asked turning to look at Allie.

"I didn't.. I.." Allie started.

"You lost it to Carter?!" Kati's voice changed from outraged to amusedly shocked.

"I'm gonna go," Bradin voiced, backing away from the group.

"I'll go with you," Allie said, wanting to be able to just walk away from this situation.

"I think you should stay," he replied before turning around.

"Bradin I.." she pleaded going after him

"You should sort this out," he said unemotionally before turning around again to walk away.

"Bradin.!"

"Liyah!"

"Carter, please! I've screwed up one life already okay," and at that he let go of his grip on her elbow and she went after Bradin who was not far from the elevator at the end of the hallway while he himself had to deal with his repercussions.

"Bradin, I was a different person, I did some stupid things that-" she started saying standing in fro nt of him after he pushed the elevator button.

"Allie, I don't care what or who you did in New York, God knows I've screwed up more than anyone else," he said turning around to look at her.

"Then what's the problem?" she asked, confused.

"It's about them.." he started, "And their world,"

"It's crazy I know, that's why I left, it.. It changes you,"

"Except you didn't leave Allie, you're still as much a part of that world as they are,"

"Bradin.." she started saying looking into his eyes, "That's not true," she said apprehensively, unsure of what else to say, unsure if what she said was a lie or a statement, unsure of what the problem actually was to start with.

"It is, and your grandmother's right, you belong there," he said instead, "I don't.." he added.

"She said what?"

"Yea and I think you should listen to her, you find another escort for the ball," he continued.

It took her a moment, but when it finally came to her and she regained control over her voice box, "Are you.. Are we.. Is.. Is this us breaking up?" she asked, getting the words out right as the elevator gave out a soft 'ding' indicating it had reached that floor.

Bradin looked up at the indicator to find the light blinking and then back at Allie, "I guess so," he replied and sidestepped her entering the elevator as the door slid open.

It took her a moment but when she regained her composure and usage of her limbs, she turned around and marched back into the ballroom, eyes, scanning the crowd for her grandmother, when she finally spotted her, taking large angry strides, she made her way to across the room.

"Gramma, what the hell did you do?" Allie confronted her grandmother, hardly caring that she had been speaking to someone else at that time.

"Aaliyah, that is no way for a lady to speak," she chided gently and chuckling as the other elderly lady, sensing the hostility excused herself graciously walking away.

"And how should I speak, the way you did to Bradin about how we're from different worlds and we don't belong together?" she challenged, unable to contain the anger that shook in the core of her voice.

"Aaliyah, have you learned nothing from your mother? She married below her class and she came running right back, you don't want to do make the same mistake now do you,"

"I'm not making a mistake, I was happy, I'm in love," she explained to the elderly woman who have seemed to not grasp the concept very well.

"So was your mother, but she learned the hard way that you can't survive on love alone, I don't want you to go through what she did, Aaliyah," she went on as Aaliyah shook her head, looking away from her. "Just live the life you were born into, the life you deserve, everyone else has,"

"I'm not everyone else," she quipped and turned to walk away.

"And just so you know, James was richer than you'd ever imagined, my dad wasn't below anyone's class," Aaliyah added before walking away for good this time, and not turning back.


	30. Chapter 30

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Okay, so most of you probably still have some overnight hate left for me but they were getting a little boring, you know..? But anyway the storyline is just the way it is, as I've said, I have it planned out and if the reception's good, I'll be writing a sequel, and if you guys just must know the full story of New York, I'll even write a prequel, but anyway, _

_JustTheGirl07: Thanks, it's a great idea, similar to what I had in mind, albeit a little different, just wait and see.. But thanks for trying to help!! And the prequel's already planned out, just a warning though, it's pushed forward, like many many years.. It'll be adult drama then.._

_acciodanrad9 : I know, it's sad right, we're on chapter 30 now, which means, 3 more to go.. gasp! But don't worry, there definitely WILL be a sequel, watch to for it when this one ends, but it could take a few days, or maybe a week till I get it out, I'll need to draw up the plot, connect loose ends and get the general idea together first.. _

_6Ellie6 : Haha, I know, I hate her too, but I kinda was going for snob, so good to know it was portrayed right.. xD Hope this was ASAP enough for you.._

_Okay, on to the story now.._

**Chemicals React.**

As Aaliyah helped the lead Deb, her best friend, put the finishing touches of her make up her friend just looked at her sadly staring at her reflection on the mirror.

After the whole brunch incident, Kati confronted her for the whole story, demanding 'no more secrets, no more lies, no more trying to protect me,' and Kati considered that Allie had been carrying around enough guilt and suffering and also that she did fall for the worst guy there was to fall for, and also that she'd just been royally dumped by her boyfriend, there was nothing more that she could do to add to it. And in all fairness, all Allie actually wanted was to protect her, though there wasn't really much to protect seeing that at that time, she and Chris hadn't even started dating.

And even if she did know that Kati was crazy over him, recent events had made her realize that her feelings for Chris were awfully one-sided, so she decided that it was her friendial obligation to put all the blame on Carter.

"You're sure you don't want to go?" she asked softly.

"And give Lillian the pleasure of knowing she's won? Hell, no, and besides, I lost my escort, remember, who am I suppose to go with?" she asked back, whilst fussing over her best friend's face.

"Oh, no one needs a man to wear a pretty dress and walk down a flight of stairs," she said lightheartedly as Allie stood back to admire the effects on her piece of art. Kati had tailor-made and ivory sateen strapless dress and wore her hair pulled back and off her face in a nice French twist behind her head, high-lighting her perfect cream complexion, something they both had in common.

"Easy for you to say, Miss I just wiggle my finger and another guy charters a g5 out to escort me," she teased Kati, laughing.

"It's not my fault that I'm.." she struggled to think of a proper word slightly, "Escortable," she decided upon.

"That's not even a word,"

"It is, cause she's not the only one who's escortable," came a voice from behind and Aaliyah lifted her eyes to see the reflection of a person she last expected to see, well.. Second last actually.

"Zac?" she asked turning around. He'd donned on a tux, complete with leather shoes and all, "What are you doing here?" After prom, she never got the courage to apologize and figured she'd leave things to cool a little, and apparently, it worked.

"Figured you needed a friend, and you were right anyway, Vanessa really was a slut,"

And Aaliyah laughed at that as her friends pushed her into the changing room tossing in her dress for her. She couldn't help but smile, never once considering that her 2 best friends who were so different on so many different levels coming from the different places in her life could actually get along that well, and she wondered why the other aspects of her life couldn't be the same.

* * *

"Thanks for doing this Zac, I mean it, really," Allie muttered to her best pal while growing up as they were dancing to the beat of the slow music. The whole walking and being presented was easy enough and having Zac and Kati there made it that much fun that for a second, she had almost forgot that she and Bradin were broken up, almost.

"Hey, what are friends for, right?" he mumbled back softly into her ear and she smiled as they swayed to the music. She loved the way that their relationship was nothing more than platonic, ever, and the fact that his hand may be resting on the small of her back, it wasn't in a romantic way, but more of an I-got-your-back way, however, the world didn't always see that as it was as one Carter O'Connell marched up and punched him right in the middle of the dance floor.

"Keep your hands off her!" The handsome brunette was clearly drunk as they tried to pry him off of Zac who was holding himself just fine without help being an awfully tall basketballer, but the whisky in the brunette's breath was clearly unmistakable, proving once again that an open bar always brought more harm than good.

As they sat in a corner after the whole initial shock and scuffle, Allie tried very hard not to laugh at the black eye forming and pressed a napkin she wrapped with ice over Zac's punched at eye.

"Ow.." he yelped as she pressed a little to hard on the forming bruise.

"Sorry.. Don't blame me that some drunk sucker-punched you,"

"Actually, if you paid attention to the obscenities he was yelling, it kinda is," he stated in a matter-of-factly tone and Aaliyah's smile faded a little.

"You ever going to tell me what happened back in New York?"

"No?" Allie replied after staring off for a moment to think.

"Oh, well, it's okay, the invitation did say black eye, oh wait, no, it was black tie,"

"Look Zac I'm sorry, okay, I really am, things were just crazy,"

"So you ran,"

"Yeah,"

"What happened, All, come on, at some point you're gonna have to tell me, and Bradin will find out,"

"He already has.."

"Oh god.. I'm so sorry, Alls," he said, pulling her into a hug.

"Not as sorry as I am, you can trust me on that," she said into his shoulder in their embrace.

"So you gonna tell me or not?" he probed yet again when they pulled apart.

And she did, she unraveled the long story for the second time.

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up, that drunk who sucker punched me?" he asked, wanting confirmation.

"Mmm hmm.." she said nodding.

"You.. You.. You fell for .." he struggled with the words a little before finally deciding on "That?"

"Yep," she said casually with candor.

"How the hell did that happen?" he demanded.

"Well when you look past his philandering and underage boozing and partying, he isn't really that much of a prick," she explained as Zac raised an eyebrow, "Except he really was a prick,"

"A prick with a heart apparently, he really did have a warm and fuzzy interior, you know.. but he was a prick nonetheless, he was just.." she continued when Zac cut her off.

"Okay now you're just babbling, back to the what happened in New York.." he veered the conversation back to the original point and Allie went on to explain the incidents that brought about to the events that screwed with her life in Playa Linda and a sadness washed over her as she re-lived the moment in front of the escalator.

Not so far away, Bradin was at a beach party, getting wasted, trying to get over the fact that he broke up with Aaliyah when a familiar voice came up from behind him.

"Hey," Callie said, sitting down next to him, staring into the fire as he did, "Alone again?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've a tendency of keeping relationships that don't last," he replied, taking another swig of beer from the almost empty bottle in his hand.

"I've heard,"

"How bout you?" he asked, "Don't see you stuck to the hip of some guy,"

"Well, I'm just not feeling like it," she replied casually as he took one final chug of the beer.

"Yeah, why not?" he asked, as he threw his bottle down onto the sand.

"Just feeling off lately,"

"Opposing sex problems?" he offered and she chuckled slightly, nodding, "Yeah,"

"I can't get that one guy out of my head," she said, "Ever since I got heart broken by him.." she added.

"Lucas really did a number on you, huh?" he asked.

"We both I'm not talking about Lucas, Bradin,"

"Callie I-" he started but faltered, there were no right words to say in a situation like this, and she looked away.

"You broke up with Allie?" she asked instead.

"Yeah, it's just sometimes, you know, things get in the way, and you don't wanna try anymore, you know," and Callie merely looked at him as he tried to illustrate his torn up feelings within that he couldn't contain.

"Except you do, because you love her so much that it hurts," and he sighed, "But you can't because you gave up.. And now she probably hates me for not trying harder, but I couldn't try harder, not when I just clearly don't fit in.. And I just feel so useless and I.." he went on in his semi-drunken state.

"You're not useless Bradin," she insisted as she continued gazing at him. He looked up to meet her gaze and her brown eyes somehow filled him with happiness and sorrow. It was something they both needed, something to take away the anguish, it was almost like they were using one another to push their own pain away, the pain of loving someone they can't have.

But it seems, as if at the same time, an epiphany had crossed both of their minds. The same stupid thought flooded their heads and in one brief moment of idiocy, they both pulled into the same trail of though as their lips inched closer and closer until their lips met in the heat of the subsequent moment. It was probably the stupidest thing either could ever have done but at that moment it didn't matter. Bradin needed to get over his stupidity by another stupidity, because he needed to get Aaliyah out of his head, the mere thought of her gutted him more than he'd ever admit and he needed this stupid as much as Callie wanted it and because he could blame the 4 bottles of beer if the need for it ever came up, he felt that it was the right thing to do, and he just did.

The feeling Callie'd gotten from their kisses before were quite dissimilar to this kiss. She couldn't put her finger on it but there was something that made them different. She felt the same satisfaction coursing through her veins but there was something estranged, something not quite the same, something not quite right, not that she wasn't enjoying this just as much, but there was just something about the way they kissed before that made it.. Surreal...

But Callie forced herself to ignore it and focus on the task at hand. Bradin's hands were now up the back of her shirt again like they used to whenever they kissed back in the day they were together and she simply soaked it up, enjoying every moment of it. Callie didn't care what else happened now, the school year was almost over and she didn't care anymore, she didn't care that it was wrong, she didn't even want to think about it, she just allowed herself to melt into his kiss like she always have.

_A/N Yeah, I know I know! You hate me, got it.. dodges rotten fruits and vegetables hurled at.._

_But review? Please? Tell me what you think about it.. Thanks you.. _


	31. Chapter 31

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Thanks for the reviews! Here's the next one, I really have nothing much to say right now.. Zomg, it must be the apocalypse.. Ahhhh!!_

_But anyways, here we go.. Chapter 31, after this and only 2 more to go.. sobb.. sniff sniff.._

**Chemicals React.**

"'Sup?" Johnny said as his niece entered Mona's Sandbar in her uniform. She stopped in her tracks looking at him strangely as he wiped the bar and placed the tray atop of it.

"You do know that I'm not even going to consider acknowledging that, right?" Aaliyah said after raising an eye-brow at his choice of greeting.

He laughed, "Good to know your still in there kiddo," he commented.

Keeping her promise, Allie stayed with her grandmother until after cotillion but she packed up and moved back into the boat house directly after and from the lack of contact between Bradin and Allie, it was evident that they'd broken up and it was clear for the rest of the family to see. An addition to the awkward and often uncomfortable silence between the two and the lack of contact, gone too were the witty bantering, and the humorous comments and joking especially on Allie's part as she ignored him completely.

She was fine with everyone else however, and nothing would seem much different except she spent less time with the clan (the Westerly/Durant gang) and the little time spent with them seemed to be filled with a fake cheer.

"In? In where?" she asked with her best bimbo impersonation turning around on the spot with the doe-eyed Barbie look on her face.

"Oh thank god, the last time you went that long without saying something amusing was when you were like 10," Johnny commented absent-mindedly.

"I broke with my boyfriend and you're comparing it to the time when my dad died, seriously?" she asked with a raised eyebrow sitting on the high stool of the bar facing Johnny and he shrugged as he left with the rag in hand.

"Ugh.. I officially hate people in love," said Jenna, one of the girls Allie worked with at Mona's.

"Yeah, so do I.." she said distractedly, sliding her pen and notebook into the front pockets of the vest, "Wait why do we hate people in love?" she asked turning to look at Jenna as she put down her tray at the bar counter.

"Table 8 is chewing each others face off," Jenna said, disgusted.

"I'll take them for you," Allie offered.

"You sure?"

"Yeah.. A girl can only mope for so long right?" she commented before turning around to head to table 8 before stopping short just before the table shocked at the sight before her.

"Wow. Awkward," she said to herself more than anyone else.

The table 8 chewing each other's face off was one ex-boyfriend of hers engaged in a full make-out session with an ex-girlfriend of his, hardly giving any notice or concern for anyone else. Bradin managed to unglue himself to Callie's lips, hardly believing his ears or eyes when he heard and spotted her, "Allie?" he asked looking at her before

"Cal-lie, Bradin, Callie," she said enunciating her name.

"No.. Uh.. She's.. here.." and Callie's head shot to her direction, Bradin's however, did not.

"Can I take your order? No? Okay, well, I'll send another waitress in about 5 minutes. Carry on," she said without much pause in between and turned around to serve others without turning back to look at them.

Bradin closed his eyes and exhaled as Allie walked away.

Aaliyah made it home just as Ava was finishing up with cooking dinner and she dumped her stuff in her room before poking her nose into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" she inquired, trying to sniff it out.

"Baked salmon, vegetables, potatoes, you know the usual," Ava said without turning around as she bent over and checked on the salmon in the oven.

"Sounds good," she said absentmindedly as the smell wafted out of the oven and hit her senses like a hurricane. Her stomach gave a strange lurch, one which she did not like too much. A slight dizziness washed over just as Bradin entered the room too, going to the refrigerator for, she could assume, water. Pushing herself off the high stool, she turned around just in time as a flow of her stomach contents poured out from her mouth as one hand kept her hair out of her face and the other held on to the counter keeping her from falling out of the chair.

"Ugh.. I knew I shouldn't have had that overnight shrimp salad," she muttered to no one in particular with the sour taste of indigestion lingered in her mouth.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll clean it up," she added quickly, referring to the puddle of vomit which lay on the floor, to Ava who was standing there in shock, as was Bradin with one hand still on the refrigerator door who looked on speechless, and Nikki who had coming running hearing a small commotion in the kitchen.

"No, no, I'll get that, you should get some rest, Bradin, help her to her room honey," Ava insisted before not so subtly pushing Bradin at her direction in her not so subtle way of trying to push them in each other's company as she had taken to doing in light of recent events.

And he did come forward to offer a hand to her to get off the high bar stool but she merely pushed him away, "I can walk fine," she said coldly glaring at him before getting off the stool by herself and walking away, past one stunned Nikki away from the kitchen as Bradin followed her like a puppy careful not to touch her as she clearly didn't want to be, least of all by him, and Ava fussed over the puddle of puke trying to rid of it and the stench before dinner time.

"You can go, you know, I'm fine, I had a bad meal," she said grimly as she turned on the tap in the bathroom washing her mouth and Bradin stood at the doorway hovering over her like a mother hen.

"You puked, and it takes at least 12 hours for bad food to effect you like that," Bradin stated in a matter-of-factly voice.

"What are you trying to say, Bradin?" she asked as impassively as before after drained the water from her mouth and turned off the tap reaching for a face towel.

"I just.."

"I'm not pregnant," she said answering his question before he could phrase it.

"Allie, I just.."

"I don't care, just go, okay," she said gesturing at the door, and he did as he was told, the passiveness of their conversation, the only form of little contact they had now, bothered him and he wasn't sure how much more of it he can take, so he walked away while he could.

Allie didn't join them for dinner and dinner passed in a daze, Bradin sat on the balcony after dinner allowing himself some time to think whilst the sea breeze blew and the sounds of waves crashing to sea sent tranquility over his mind.

The calm didn't last for long of course, when the second youngest member of the Westerly family decided to check on her oldest brother.

"Hey," she said timidly, sitting next to him.

"Hey," he replied nonchalantly, and they sat in silence for a moment.

And then finally, "Is she, you know..?" the younger member inquired.

"She says she's not," he replied not looking at her, "And you know what weird? I actually kind wished that she was,"

"Then I'd have a reason to give it one more shot, to try harder to work it out," he explained.

"Okay, it's the big elephant in the room, what exactly is going on between you and Allie cause I'm not quite sure how much more we can take of it Brae," Nikki finally caved, her curiosity getting the better of her, no one had been getting any sort of an explanation as to what happened or why it had happened leaving them to guess and deal with the hostility between the two, well, more on Allie's part but still, the unfriendly vibe did cause discomfort around the house.

"Nik, we broke up okay, I had to break up with her, so we broke up,"

"Bullshit! You didn't Have to do anything, you're Bradin Westerly, no one makes you do anything, you do whatever the hell whenever the hell you want whatever people think," the young westerly said, annoyed by what her bigger brother was saying.

"Nikki, that's not true," he replied defensively getting annoyed himself.

"Come on, you didn't care with Sarah, you didn't care with Callie and you sure as hell didn't care with Erika,"

"Well, things were different with them,"

"Different how? You broke up with Allie cause it's what you do, Bradin, you push people away at the first sign of a struggle. Allie was afraid to get her heart broken but the truth was, she didn't even stand a chance because you are just as much afraid as she is and you make damned well sure that you wouldn't get Your heart broken,"

"What are you talking about?" he asked confused, he did't push people away, did he? No, she was just being Nikki, she was over-analyzing, as per usual, simple as that.

"I'm talking about you, and what you do just when things start to go a teensy bit south, you break things off cause you're afraid to care too much, to put too much into a relationship and have it crumble in on you,"

"That's not true; I worked plenty on my relationships," he stated defensively.

"Yea like what?" she asked in return, "Or rather with who, I might ask. You called Sara's parents on her and they had her shipped off to some facility some where, Callie wasn't happy with you so you broke things off and Erika, you didn't even give that one a try, so yea, come on, tell me cause I'd love to know, which one of your relationships did you actually 'worked on'?" Nikki asked pointedly. And he couldn't refute that, not even if he wanted too, it was true, he didn't try, he never did, and there was no point refusing to someone who knew him that well.

"That's what I thought," she said after a moments silence.

"We're from different worlds Nik, people from her world stay at the Burj al Arab, sipping Margarita's by the pool, and have dinner at Lafitte, they're the kind of people who fly out to Paris just to shop and.. and drown in éclairs, how do you.. How do you fit in to a world like that when you grew up on a farm in Texas?"

"You fight for her, I thought you were ready to grow up and fight for what you wanted when you hung on to it even you were going to different colleges and all, what happened to that?"

"I screwed up, okay, and even if I wanted to fix this now-" he started but got cut off.

"So fix it,"

"She caught me and Callie at Mona's today, making out,"

"Oh," his little sister stated insufficiently before exhaling. It was a lot more complicated than she thought trying to get them back together, and she was about to launch into a serious what-the-hell-were-you-thinking lecture on him when she realized he probably felt bad enough about it already so instead she tried to comfort him.

"She'll forgive you.." she decided upon saying and Bradin raised an eyebrow cocking his head at her sideways.

"Eventually," she said spotting the look he had on his face.

"If you begged," she added, "And groveled.."

"And apologized.."

"Profusely?" she offered as his facial expression of skeptism still hadn't changed.

He gave a long sigh, "I can't believe I screwed this one up," he groaned and all Nikki could do was watch her brother sympathetically placing an arm over his shoulders.

_ A/N Push the little button, come on.. You know you want to.. Put the arrow over it and…. Press… Yes, that's right, good, now review! _


	32. Chapter 32

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Second last one already.. sobs..._

**Chemicals React.**

"Are you sure you can handle it, Rore?" Ava asked as Allie stuffed the last of Ava's luggage into the trunk of Johnny's SUV.

Susannah was spending her night at Matt's, Nikki was at a sleepover at Amber's place, and Derrick had left for his summer camp, leaving the house to Bradin and Aaliyah unsupervised, and of course this was the time where Bradin planned for a graduation party in their humble dwelling, and Ava was a little bit too concerned.

"Go already, gosh, it's a party, not a cannibal celebration, I'm not gonna get eaten up by anything," she said jokingly to her uncle's wife, pushing her into the already started up and running car. Johnny of course was already inside the car waiting to drive off into the sunset, well, more like to the airport but that's beside the point.

It was graduation night, and after watching 2 members of the family walk across the stage in a cap and gown, a swollen with pride Ava and Johnny was packed and ready for their real honeymoon, one booked and paid for by the children, a week's stay in a beautiful Mauritius resort, they would have booked something a little further and more romantic if it wasn't for Ava and Johnny's love for heat and sea.

"Just, make sure Bradin doesn't tear the house down," she quipped and Allie promised before finally getting her to get into the car. Bradin still hadn't gotten the courage to make things right, Allie was too proud and too angry at him for dragging her into a relationship with false promises to try to forgive him and now summer loomed ahead, and soon they won't even see each other anymore, and what is he doing? He planned a huge graduation party, basically with the entire senior year being invited.

Aaliyah had planned to not be part of the party, trying to keep any forms of interactions on a minimal but on Connor and Zac's urging, she withdrew from the sanctuary of her room and she looked around the house wondering if she was in fact keeping her promise. The house was still standing but she was pretty sure they were going to be getting a noise complaint soon, and the house looked absolutely trashed, complete with drunken couples dancing disorientatedly in close proximity and plastic cups littering the place.

She gave a sigh and thank god she locked her room when she noticed a couple practically having sex on the sofa.

Looking across the room, she saw none other than Vanessa dancing on the coffee table stripping off what little clothing she had on to the music playing in the background. Not feeling in a mood to kick her out or be in any sorts of scuffle which may bring about to breaking of furniture or some sort of breakable ware around the house and hence breaking her word to Ava, she moved away from that scene, migrating to the kitchen.

Allie leaned on the kitchen table watching the crowd around her, the drunk getting drunker, the sluts getting sluttier and so forth. The scene unfolding before her was a reminder of her New York days and she remembered thinking the very same thing, that these parties were really a bore when you were sober. At that moment, her hand felt a smooth surface of an unopened bottle of beer behind her and she opened it, taking a sip of the semi-cold beer it held. What the heck, she figured; everybody else seemed to be indulging. Zac got himself a chugging competition and Connor finally got the courage to do something about his little crush on JJ, they went out 'for a walk' and disappeared for almost an hour already.

And so she sat alone on the kitchen table enjoying her own company and the company of her semi-cold beer in her hand when a semi-drunk Bradin wandered next to her.

"Alone much?" he asked as he sat down next to her.

Aaliyah scoffed before snapping, "Drunk much?"

"Yeah," he replied, laughing a little, "Loneliness has that effect on people, well not you clearly, but.. Yeah,"

"Come on, you? Star surfer of the Playa Linda High, host to the greatest graduation party ever, I'm sure you can have your pick of the bimbos," she wittily remarked and he chuckled slightly before putting his bottle to his mouth again. It was Tequila as she read off of the label. At the rate that he was downing the bottle, she definitely wasn't going to envy him in the morning.

_What day is it_

_And in what month this clock never seemed so alive…_

"I really liked this song," Allie commented as the music wafted from the stereo that was on somewhere amidst the crowd.

"You know I'm surprised, I thought you knew me better than that," Bradin remarked, breaking Allie's moment as she closed her eyes, enjoying the music, "Bimbos.. That's not really me anymore,"

"Wow, you really are drunk aren't you?" she asked amused as she looked at the handsomely intoxicated boy in front of her. He had on a button down checkered shirt and jeans, his hair was mused up and he had on one shoe. It was almost funny she was sure if you were an outsider watching them, there she was, perfectly sober in a black sweater with a zipper down front and shorts, talking to her ex-boyfriend, who was perfectly not-sober.

"No, I.. I'm not.. I.. I thought our story was epic you know, spanning years and continents, you know the kind of true love that holds on and on forever,"

"Bradin, you broke up with me," she stated, reminding him that they were there on his doing not hers.

"I did, and soon you'll be leaving, for Brown, and I won't be seeing you again, ever," he uttered with a hint of regret and misery in his voice, it showed through his green eyes too as they gazed into hers longingly.

"You broke up with me," she repeated giving emphasis to the 'you' and 'me', wondering how drunk exactly he was in his less-than articulate state but still managing coherent sentences.

"And I could do it over.." he left his sentence hanging, "I know.. I've been coming a little short on the effort department, and if you'd give me one more chance.." he pleaded yet again, "I don't want to lose you from my life, Als," he continued, choking up as her tear ducts decided to open the reservoir too

Her vision began to get a little cloudy as the tears took over and she blinked them back as much as she could. Why? Why did he have to go pick on a 2 week old scab? It was over, she accepted that, and she was going to leave, soon, and she was never going to turn back again, ever, she had fallen in love again and the guy had broken her heart again, and she was going to leave, again, why did this have to happen now, why did he have to choose to do this now, she wondered.

Bradin leaned in closer gazing into her eyes, his hand reaching up to brush away a strand of hair, cupping her cheek nimbly with his hand fitting perfectly and she leaned into his familiar soft touch, exhaling, her eye lids sliding shut at the familiarity of his warmth.

_There's something about you now.._

_I can't quiet figure out.._

When she opened her eyes again, Bradin gazed longingly at her, his face inching closer to hers cautiously, studying her expression.

'Go to bed' her head seemed to be telling her 'Just walk away and go to bed,' and she would have only that her feet seemed disconnected from her brain and she couldn't move, she couldn't pull herself away as he moved in closer to her as he did many times before, watching him as he dipped his mouth towards hers.

_Cause it's you and me_

_and all of the people with nothing to do _

_and nothing to lose_

"I've to go," she stated suddenly pulling away. She jumped up and scurried away leaving him alone staring after her as she scrambled to her room, to the safety of knowing that he wouldn't follow and invoke any sorts of pain or sensations within her that she wanted or didn't want.

There couldn't be a more wrong time and place to run away, and the words and actions slipped out before she even realized that she meant to walk away from him, that at very moment, she had to leave him there, had to, not necessarily want to, but had to.


	33. Finale!

_Disclaimer: All publicly recognisable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. Original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended._

_A/N Here we are, at the end of the run now aren't we? Well, it's been a good run, and here it is the last chapter. Don't worry though, this wouldn't be last you'll hear of Aaliyah and Bradin, they seem to have taken up a residence in my head and just won't leave, and I really haven't the heart to evict them.. haha.. _

_Okay, at any rate, here we go.. For the last time, here is.._

**Chemicals React.**

Aaliyah folded the remainder of her clothes packing them into her duffel bag, she wasn't going to be leaving for another 2 weeks, graduation was just the night before but she really didn't want to have anything left behind from packing a little too last minute. Her boxed up things could be sent later that day, it takes at least a week for postal services to get things sent across the states with the processing and all and she figured, it never hurt having an early start, plus with the incidents of the night before, she'd stayed up all night doing a bit of therapeutic packing which proceeded to her packing up everything.

She looked around her empty room now, hoping that she wasn't going to regret the choice she made.

She filled the car with the boxes, making several trips, back and forth the thrashed house. As she made the last trip out with the last of the boxes, she eyed Bradin's door, as her mind flashed back to the occurrence which led to the events of her packing up everything within one night to begin with and she gave a sigh.

Loading the last box onto her car, she made u her mind and walked up to his room door, rapping her knuckles onto the heavy wooded door.

She hear a little commotion, a muffled reply and the sounds of ruffled sheets before the door swung open with Bradin standing there at the door way, clad only in his boxers, his blonde hair messed up and his eyes squinting, adjusting to the light, adjusting to the pounding on his head, a result of overloading his system with too much alcohol the night before, and other more vigorous activities.

"Last night, what you said, you caught me unawares and I'm sorry I ran out on you like that, but I stayed up all night, packing and I realized that.. I don't want to lose you from my life either.." she said as Bradin stood there watching her stoically with a hard to read expression on his face.

"So, lets make a pact, to find each other, no matter what happens, to at least make the effort to.." started saying before he cut her off.

"Allie, last night I.." he said, trailing off, thinking of the right words to say and phrasing it right.

"Last night, what I said, I meant it, every word of it.." he started again only to let out a sigh, unable to continue. And then there was a soft moan from behind him and he closed his eyes, ashamed as Allie looked into his room to identify the source of the sound, wondering if she heard right.

Allie scoffed and looked away from the pair of long slender legs showing from under his duvet covers before saying, "Of course," wondering why she didn't expect any differently.

"Allie, listen I.." he tried to explain but she cut him off this time.

"Do you even know who it is or.." she started saying a hint of pain briefly flitting across her face.

"Callie," he automatically responded and Aaliyah exhaled, nodding as she let go of a certain clenched emotion in her gut and turned around to leave Bradin standing there alone in his doorway.

"Last night, I meant what I said, Allie, please," he called out to her, pleading after her as she took large angry strides away from him, masking her hurt, not allowing herself to show him how badly it hurt her to simply have done what he did.

"Don't.." she said coldly, shaking her head, without bothering to turn around to look at him. As much as she tried not to let it show, he could see every emotion play out in her actions, in her body language, in her voice, and it tore him to shreds.

"Allie, please, I-" he started saying again but this time she turned around.

"Just stop okay, just.. Just don't," she seethed at him and she walked away again this time, unobstructed this time as Bradin watched Aaliyah-Jayne walk away from him again, mentally torturing himself for his stupidity.

She stormed to her room, slamming the door shut and sat atop of her bed, burying her head into her hands. She would have cried if her tear ducts were not too proud, she would have cried for being so stupid for believing, for even considering that Bradin would not break her heart the way Carter did, for even thinking of giving him a chance, for wanting to trust him.

The rage that had built up inside over the 2 weeks or so quickly melted to hurt, the image of him standing at the doorway with the look in his eyes, the confusion, the remorse? Affection? Hurt even, for what he did? She didn't know, but she knew she was marred by it, betrayed and hurt.

And when the feeling finally sunk into her gut, she didn't bother trying to stop the tears. It wouldn't do much good. What was strange, though, was that she hadn't been much of a crier. Tears were not one thing that was readily available for her and yet there she was, weeping, crying her heart out.

He had played with her emotions, whether intentionally or not.

And things were never like that before, she never cried unless she could help it but Bradin happened and now she was crying.

Like two different elements against all the laws of nature, Bradin and Aaliyah fell in love, against all realm of logical thought or logic, they both took the plunge and acted on desire, on instinct, and it resulted in this. The nightmare of a thing she called her life. She should have learned by now, but she had not and was basically back to where she was a year ago.

Allie was frustrated, angry, hurt, betrayed, you name it, and above all she felt like an idiot. There was no way she was going to forgive him now.

She let herself fall in love again, and what good did it bring? Madness. More pain. More heartache.

She was emotionally wrecked. Her body was willing, but her mind wasn't able.

She couldn't deal with it, Aaliyah just couldn't deal with it, and at that moment, her mind was made up and she carried her packed up duffel bags, leaving, again.

_A/N Okay, I know this isn't exactly the ideal ending, but this is where I'd leave it at. Something very poignant and heartbreaking, cause I never really like those cheesy mush happily ever after endings._

_I always wanted it to end on a note like this, even before I worked out the idea of the sequel, but I figure you guys would forgive me right..?? Especially when you Know there will be a sequel.. cheesy smile.._

_Well, anyway, for you guys who venture outside of Summerland in the vast lands of FanFiction, I'll let you now that I've started one in X-Men, under movies.. Also involving an Original Character._

_Anyway, signing out from Chemicals React for the last time, _

_xOxO_

_mAnomaly._


End file.
